Of Birds and Wolves
by Candro3123
Summary: When a new hybrid joins the flock and likes Fang as well, it's not a surprise she has to leave. From the Institute, this girl rescues her own flock and leads them while trying to take her own part in saving the world. NO Fax. Please Review! No flames!
1. Prologue

Of Birds and Wolves

A Maximum Ride Fan Fiction

**Prologue**

The nasty taste of bile flooded her mouth as she leaned over the bucket and regurgitated. Hatred and fury bubbled up inside her. It was the stupid white coats who were making her retch right now. It was their fault they experimented on her daily, making her eat nasty things, get hurt frequently, and like now, throw up. That was only the beginning of what they did to her.

But, was it their entire fault? Maybe, it was her fault. She was the one with the supernatural gain and power, not them. But, they were the ones who gave her the stinking thing to start with.

As she finished retching, she was given a piece of paper towel, and she wiped her mouth. She silently vowed that she would one day have her revenge; whether it meant her ill-will or not. She would not let these monsters get away with this.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Hands shoved her into the small, cold, metal dog crate. She heard the door squeak and lock. Her dark brown eyes peered through the semi-darkness as the white coat walked away, swinging the key on his finger, and whistling a merry tune. _Go ahead; keep thinking that it's all okay and that your world is perfect. Just keep thinking that. _

Leara placed her pale hands on the cool metal bars, letting her black hair fall into her face. Today had been just like every other day; the white coats tested and experimented on her. They liked to see which abilities she had gained ever since she became a freak fourteen years ago. She was faster and stronger than the average man, standing at 5 foot 9 inches and only weighing ninety pounds.

As she leaned against the back of the crate, she winced as a loose plastic tie from another crate pressed against hers poked her. She moved what the plastic had pricked, and felt the soft feathers. Yes, she had _wings_. This was why when you looked up "freak" in a dictionary; there was a picture of her. Her wings were blue-black and raven-like.

A door slamming suddenly caused her to jump and hit her head on the top of the crate. Her crate door swung open and a tray was slid into her "cage". The crate door slammed and locked, and the meat-headed guard stomped off to take his duty back outside the door. On the tray lay the usual slop that was supposed to be a meal and a can of something that was orange, but tasted too sweet and bitter.

Leara curled her nose, but as usual, picked up the spoon and dug in. The slop was always tasteless, just as it had been for the past fourteen years. They really needed to get a cook or something. But, from retching earlier, she had been experimented on with an empty stomach. Any food was good at the moment.

As she set down her spoon and shoved the tray to the front of her crate, she looked up to see a girl being shoved into a crate on the other side of the room. The girl looked no older than six or seven, though she was a little taller than most. She had beautiful curly white blond hair, and she noticed something along her back; feathers. White feathers. Could this girl be like herself? Were there others in this place with wings? Leara never saw any other winged-people besides herself; though she did see some experiments with some odd mutations.

For some reason, Leara couldn't take her eyes away from her. Something drew her attention to the new girl, but she didn't know what. She was too far away to hold a conversation without the white coats over hearing them, so she didn't even try. Once in awhile, she would see the girl's eyes flicker over to her, search her face, then she would go back to sleeping, or crying.


	3. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the short chapters; these are taken right out of my original story that I am typing at the moment. **

**Working on Chapter 7 right now; I will upload more chapters as there is more hits. **

**Rate and review please! Thanks will be given! =)**

**Chapter 2**

Leara fell asleep for some time; she could never see the clock on the wall very well to keep track of time. She was startled awake as she heard a key click to unlock her crate. Hands pulled her from her cage, and lead her down the hall as she wiped sleep from her eyes. The normal stuff began to take place; her heart rate was measured, her temperature and weight taken. The white coats around her talked, but she could not make out their words.

Leara didn't understand their words until one came up to her face, and said, "Well, you should feel mighty lucky. For the next couple of days, we'll be getting the DNA ready. Your DNA is perfect to see if we can create a lupine-avian-human hybrid. We grafted the avian DNA into yours when you were only an egg, but I think we can get the right kind of things to get this to work. We'll just have to perform surgery and such…" His voice trailed off as he walked away, taking a clipboard and beginning to write.

Leara's face was flushed of any color it had. She had seen what they called their "lupine-human recombinant experiments". Someone before had called the beasts "Erasers". These beasts looked like normal men, and then morphed into a half-wolf, half-man. They were quite ugly creatures, and never seemed to last more than six or seven years. Erasers didn't seem like the best experiments with the best results. That was why her heart sank through the floor at that moment when she received the news.

The next couple of days went by with tests after tests and experiments after experiments. The third day after her news, she was finally shoved in her cage about midday. She took in a deep breath and rested her face against the cold metal bars. She was tired and just wanted to sleep. But, there was a racket as three figures were brought in and shoved into cages. She couldn't see very well, but the one girl with wings looked to the new girl that was shoved into the cage next to her. The new girl looked to be around Leara's age and had dirty blond hair. She could definitely make out the shape of wings on her back. After the white coats and Erasers left, things settled down and no noises came. Leara soon fell asleep into a dreamless nap.

The sound of hushed voices slowly woke Leara up, and she blinked awake to see and hear the four figures conversing in whispers. She couldn't make out their words as she strained to hear them. A couple of white coats and Erasers came through the doors with a push cart. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could hear the Erasers laughing, then suddenly growling and snarling. She could hear the rattling of cages and she watched as the four cages were loaded up and pushed out down the hall.

Another white coat came in with a smaller cart and approached Leara's crate. He muttered things under his breath as he loaded her onto the cart and pushed the cart through the doors into the bright hallway. She squinted to see, and the cart was brought to a halt. "What on earth is going on...?" The white coat asked aloud as he watched others running down the hall. The cart had been stopped by a huge window that looked outside. The four winged kids were beating up the Erasers and white coats; and some birds were there too! As white coats ran past her cage, one of their coats got caught against the clasp of her cage. As he struggled, it unlocked and he ran off down the hall.


	4. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much to those of you who have reviewed and such; R&R's are greatly appreciated!**

**The chapters tend to get longer, so I apologize for the kind of short chapters here. **

**Thanks again! ~ Candro**

**Chapter 3**

Leara's face lit up; the white coats were in frenzy, too worried about the other experiments. She slowly pushed her crate door opened and stepped out. She stretched and looked outside. The kids outdoors were finishing their job. Leara had a sudden epiphany: what if she was to escape with these kids?

A door next to the window set off an alarm as she barged through. A couple of kids were already in the air. As two more were beginning to take off, she yelled, "Hey! Wait!"

The girl closest to her age turned around and gave a surprised look. "You... But, Jeb... I thought there were no more recombinant experiments... What is going on?!" Leara just shrugged her shoulders. "Alright then... Well, I guess we could always take another. C'mon; let's go. Just try to keep up with us; we like to fly a little fast."

"Umm... That's the problem. I kind of... don't know how. You think you guys could maybe show me how?" Leara's cheeks turned a little pink. All six of the kids gave a shocked look. Leara blushed even deeper when she saw one of the boy's faces; he was... attractive.

"Well, I suppose that shouldn't surprise me. Umm... How about you try to run, jump, and just try to flap your wings? Fang, if she starts to lose altitude, help her out, okay?" The girl turned around and Leara watched carefully as she took off. Fang landed near her and watched her.

Leara took a deep breath and began to sprint. She let her wings spread out, and the wind blew through her feathers, making her feel alive and free. She closed her eyes and jumped. The muscles along her shoulders pumped, so she could feel her wings moving in a rhythm up and down. She opened her eyes, and saw the ground about seven feet below her. She pounded her fist into the air, but started to fall a little.

She felt a hand come up and grab one of her elbows and pull her higher. She looked and blushed when it was Fang. He gave her a sideways glance and said, "You really do have to keep your focus or you'll fall. Just work on flapping and keeping yourself in the air. I'm Fang, by the way."

Leara nodded and replied, "I'm Leara..."


	5. Chapter 4

**Thanks again for reading, guys =)**

**There is definitely more t come; I have Spring Break this next week! Yay!**

**Rates and Reviews are greatly appreciated =D**

**Chapter 4**

After a couple hours, Leara was beginning to get the flying thing down. It actually was really easy; but she was one of the slowest right now. Fang had stayed by her side the whole flight and whenever she started to lose altitude, he pulled her up either by her arms or hands. Each time he even looked at her she turned pink or even an embarrassing red.

A lake came into view, and they all landed on a nearby cliff. Down the cliff side was an entrance to a small cave, which they all entered. The sun was setting on the horizon, and the other bird kids were settling down.

Leara watched with curiosity as they took their fists and stacked them atop each other and made a little handshake. They broke apart and began to lie down and curl up into sleeping positions.

She too was tired, but yet was wide awake. One by one, the other bird kids fell asleep; except for the oldest and Fang. The oldest girl looked over to Leara and said, "Sorry I never introduced myself. I'm Max. That's Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, Angel, and you know Fang." She pointed to each person as she introduced them.

"Gasman?" Leara repeated. "What does _that_ stand for?"

Max laughed under her breath. "You don't even want to know. Trust me."

Leara gave an unsure smile, but replied, "I'm Leara. At least, that's the name I gave myself. I don't really know if I have a real name."

Max nodded, and whispered, "Just like us. We've always wanted to know, and we're going to go find a place where it will tell us about our past." She shot Leara a smile. "If you don't mind coming along…?"

Leara smiled, and whispered happily, "I don't think I could let this offer down. As long as I'm out of that lab, anyplace is fine for me."

Fang and Max soon fell asleep, but Leara was wide awake. She felt odd for some reason. These emotions had hit her hard right after she escaped and she was unsure if she could handle it all. _I just __need to get some rest and find something good to eat tomorrow. I'm sure they'll have something planned…_

The next morning was a "hurry-up and wait" kind of morning. Things were being packed as people were aroused from slumber. Leara rubbed sleep from her eyes and groggily began to stand up and stretch. She smiled with mock surprise and muttered, "Hey! I can actually stand up!"

Max heard her and laughed. "Feels different, huh? At least you had a size large and not medium crate…"

Within the next ten minutes, they were off in the sky. Leara was flying a little easier this time, but Fang was still a couple wingspans away, just in case. Her face always turned pink as she looked at him from the side, but not deep red like the day before.

She overheard as Angel flew up to Max and asked, "So, where are we going again?"

Max replied sweetly with a smile, "We're going to New York to find the Institute. It should only take a few hours; we'll be there in no time." But, suddenly, Max's face changed and she dropped from the sky like a rock. Everyone dove down quickly, but Leara struggled. Fang grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to the ground.

Max lay on the ground, curled up and holding her head. Leara knew she must've been in great pain. Questioning looks took over everyone's faces as they watched her. After a few minutes, she stood up holding her head. Everyone began to ask questions, like "Are you alright?" or "What happened, Max?", but her mouth was sealed. They soon took off again, and Leara eyed Max curiously. This must've been new to everyone, even her. What was going on now, when she thought things would go so smoothly?


	6. Chapter 5

**I'm just going to keep saying thanks to the people who are reviewing! And for the readers who keep coming back! I really do appreciate it! =D**

**I am up to 7 or 8 chapters in progress right now. Hopefully, I will be able to sit and type some during my break here. **

**Oh, and don't be afraid to talk to me! I'm not that shy! =)**

**Chapter 5**

New York came into view on the horizon as they flew farther into the late setting sun. Leara's heart fluttered, seeing such a sight. She began to lose altitude and Fang quickly grabbed her elbows. "You were doing so well. Why now?" he mocked. Leara smiled, and said, "'Cause of the pretty sunset, that's why."

A concert nearby pounded loud music and flashed bright lights. Max smiled, and said, "There are a lot of people down there. Anybody want to go to a concert?"

The flock of seven landed near the crowd and made their way towards the back of the crowd. The feel of the crowd had the kids in a sweat, because of their claustrophobia. The music had them excited, as it was there first concert. Not every bird kid gets to enjoy such a thrill.

After a couple hours and the sky dark, the concert ended and people were shoving to leave the park. Max led the flock out of the crowd and into Central Park, the name they read on signs everywhere. The younger kids were yawning and rubbing their eyes, complaining of how tired they were. Trees surrounded them in the park, so Max decided to sleep in the trees, where no one could see them.

Leara had never slept in a tree before, but knew there was no other place to sleep. She climbed up the tree after everyone else, and lay on a thick lower branch, her back propped against the trunk. The other six tapped their fists like they had the other nights before going to bed. Her heart ached a little, feeling out of place. She felt forgotten almost, but remembered they had all been together since they escaped from the School. As soon as everyone else was asleep, she fell asleep, too, listening to the sounds of the city.

The next day, they woke up and started to walk around the streets. They were automatically on Eraser-search mode. You could trust no one in a huge city like this. Max had kept saying something about this "Institute", and kept losing Leara whenever she spoke of it.

As they all walked down the sidewalk, still looking for this "Institute", a man dressed very oddly stopped them. His hair was spiked straight up and he wore a lot of studded jewelry and black. "We doing free make-overs since this is the grand opening of our store. How about it guys?"

Max smiled and looked to Iggy and Fang. "Sure. I think we all could use a good make-over."

As they stepped inside, Leara watched as people had their hair dyed, their noses pierced and clothed. The smell of hair dye and ear antiseptic flooded her nose. She watched as a couple workers came and dragged Gazzy and Angel off to their stalls. One by one, they were all taken to be "remade".

As the girl who was going to work on Leara showed her seat, she asked, "So, you have anything in mind?"

Leara thought for a moment. "Some silver streaks would be nice…" She imagined. "And like a purple undertone. I think I need a good trim too. But, I still want long hair."

The lady smiled and threw some sort of plastic coat over Leara's chest. "Anything else you wanted specifically?"

Leara shook her head. "Nah; what ever you want to do, I guess."

After an hour or so, the lady changed Leara quite a bit. A make-up artist had placed dark colored make-up on her face, which according to the Gasman, made her look scary. A clothes designer gave her a shirt covered in multi-colored skulls, hearts, and music notes. She was given dark boot-cut jeans, but no shoes. Max let her get the side of her left ear pierced with a silver hoop. She looked totally different; the mop that had been her hair now swept over her left eye with silver bangs and her hair looked clean.

Everyone else looked different, too. Max beamed as they walked onto the street. "I knew that the make-over would be a good idea!"

Fang rolled his eyes as he walked in between Max and Leara. "Yeah; that's why you looked _totally_ happy when the lady came at you with make-up."

Max shrugged her shoulders. "I'll sacrifice for the flock."

Fang and Leara gave each other side-ways glances and smirked. They knew she didn't mean it. Leara looked forward down the street, when her stomach growled loudly. She turned pink.

Fang chuckled under his breath, but Max hadn't heard her, as she was speaking with Nudge and Angel.

Fang and Leara looked at each other from the corners of their eyes, until they noticed that it was just the two of them walking next to each other. They turned around to see that Max and the rest had stopped in front of a large building. Huge teddy bears sat on both sides of the double doors. The words over the doors read something about a "toy store".

The younger kids squealed with glee and Gazzy began to describe the building to Iggy. The three younger kids begged Max to go inside and just have a look around. She finally gave in and they cheered.

Fang and Leara followed the rest of the kids inside the store. Angel, Nudge, and Max took off to a wall covered with stuffed animals. Gazzy and Iggy had disappeared to who-knows-where. Fang also noticed that they were already missing. His hand just briefly touched hers and he said with a flirty smile, "I'll go see where they went off too."

Leara turned almost red again. Darn her easily-blushing face. She turned around and walked up to Max. Nudge and Angel were digging through the mound of stuffed animals.

Max gave Leara a hateful sideways glance. "Enjoy your little walk?" she muttered with a hiss.

Leara gave her a wary glance. "What?" she asked confused. Max didn't seem to dislike Leara this much; why was she getting so worked up over Fang?

Max looked at her full on. "You think I don't see you two walking together all the time? He was only helping you in the sky, not trying to hook up with you," she hissed under her breath so the kids wouldn't hear her.

Leara gave her a shocked look. "I know that, Max," she replied. "I didn't realize that you felt that way… I'll go away if you want me to."

Max shrugged her shoulders. "Fine by me; I could care less. This is my flock, and you haven't been with us."

Leara thought of some nasty comebacks, but bit down on her tongue. "Fine," she whispered. "I'm leaving." With that, she turned around and walked out of the store.

Max watched her leave. "Good…" she muttered under her breath. She looked around to make sure Fang wasn't watching. If he was, he would be sure to run after her. Since Leara was quite, maybe the younger kids wouldn't notice for awhile


	7. Chapter 6

**Thanks for keeping with me, guys!**

**I'm sad to say this: I lost my flash drive that had chapter 7 and everything I had been working on. I have to retype everything I just wrote this week, so it may take a while before I upload the next chapter. I think I know where it's at, but I won't be able to try to get in until next week D=**

**Reviews and rates still greatly appreciated! Thanks!**

**Chapter 6**

Leara walked down the street, kicking an empty pop can. This street she walked down, which she had no clue which one it was, was very bare and empty. The sound of the pop can hitting the cement seemed to ring for an eternity.

Yeah, Leara was mad at Max for attacking her like that, but it was kind of Leara's fault. She was the one who kept making googly-eyes at Fang.

She shook her head and squinted her eyes. "I have to stop blaming myself for these things…" She gave the can a hard kick and watched as it soared down the street. She ran after it and heard it hit the road, but then she couldn't hear it roll around. She heard it fall into something wet. As she followed the sound, she saw that the can had fallen into a hole of some sort. The stink coming from the hole was horrible.

But, this hole could be her escape. She finally recognized it as a sewer and knew that if she went down into the sewer, no one would find her. Max could never bug her about Fang and then she wouldn't have to worry about anyone else except herself. She liked water as well, so it was kind of homey; except for the stink.

With a deep breath, she climbed down the hole and landed in some dirty looking water. Off to the side was cement where she could see rats running along the wall. The tunnel was long enough for her to fly in, so she took off.

Leara didn't care which turns she took and which way she went. If she could get herself lost down here; good. She wanted to be alone and where no one could find her. The lack of noise was inviting to her and she enjoyed the thought of never having to see anyone again.

But, something caught her attention. There was a door along one of the walls she flew past. She turned around and approached the door. When she tried to pull open the door, she found out that it was locked. With years of being in a cage, she had plenty of practice trying to open cages with plastic ties and her finger nails.

Leara recalled that in her hair were some pins, to keep her bangs back a little. She pulled the pin out and began to eye the key hole. She shoved the metal pin inside the hole and began to twist it in different directions. With her ear pressed against the door, she listened closely until she finally heard a _"click"_. She smiled and pulled the door open a little ways.

Behind the door was a stairwell that led to a place where there were different colored small lights, but it was still dark. No one seemed to be in the place, so Leara began to explore. There were tons of computers and technological things. She saw something familiar on a small table; a needle. It was on a wooden rack along with many others. She picked it up, noticing that the needle was covered. The bottle connected to it read "_Uncia uncia_". She removed the cover and examined the needle closely.

A noise startled her she set down the needle on the rack, the uncovered needle facing the ceiling. She dove under the table until she didn't hear anything. She peered out and decided it was safe to come out again. But, she noticed what had caused the noise; and it wasn't a person.

A huge dark room was filled with cages. Leara shuddered as she looked at the experiments in the cages. Most were sleeping, but one looked right back at her; she was blonde and looked to be thirteen years old or so. Her small hands were wrapped tightly around the metal bars. She shook her cage, making it shake back and forth; she had created the noise.

Leara looked around and saw a glass door; but it was closed with a pin lock. She searched the wall, and there was a small door that was open; just small enough for her to crawl through. She was unsure what the door was for, but thanked God it was there without a lock.

Leara approached the girl's cage. The girl's eyes widened with pure joy as she began to fumble with the cage lock. Within a couple seconds, her door swung open and the girl stepped out. "You... How can I... Thank-you?"

Leara shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Well, I don't know. I'm just helping out a fellow hybrid. Are there more of you?"

The girl nodded fast. "Yeah; five more are here."

Leara looked through the cages. "Alright. How's about you get your friends and skedaddle? There are some empty buildings on the ground above here. There's a sewer top near the ceiling of the tunnel not but twenty feet away from the door. I want to look around for a second and then I should get out of here. You should make sure you hurry up."

The girl just nodded and ran off to another cage. Leara caught her attention and pointed at the small door. "Here's where you escape out of here."

She climbed through and stretched a little as she stood back up. As she walked past the table again, a beeping noise startled her. She accidentally smacked her hand down on top of something sharp. She picked up what had stabbed her and saw that it was the needle she had been looking at earlier. Her whole arm started to prickle and she rubbed it.


	8. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long break; I've been quite busy lately '.**

**I cut this chapter in half from what I had originally planned so I can upload something xD **

**Hope you enjoy it, even though it's short. Rates and Reviews greatly appreciated!**

**P.S. Max may be a little out of character, but it is to stress the dislike she has of Leara, because they both like Fang. **

**Chapter 7**

Within a few minutes, Leara was out in the night sky under the moon light. Her arms were covered in goose bumps and she felt sick to her stomach. She already knew something was definitely wrong; that was a fact when she began to lose altitude and fast.

As a cold touch grabbed her elbows and pulled her up, a familiar voice tickled her ear, "Hey, there's no sunset to stare at this time..."

Leara gasped, but settled as she saw it was Fang that had pulled her up. He frowned as he felt her skin. He placed a hand on her cheek then on her forehead. "You are running a horrible fever... No wonder you were losing altitude so fast. I've been looking everywhere for you. I can't believe Max didn't tell me you took off; she won't tell me why either. Are you okay? You don't look so good; you're so pale. Well, you normally are pale, but more pale than normal. Are you hungry; is that it? I--"

She placed a finger over his non-stopping, but surprising, lips. "Okay, Nudge. God, I think that's the most words I've ever heard you say."

Fang blushed a little. "Um, well, let's get you back with the flock so you can get some rest. Max wants to go try to find the Institute tomorrow."

Leara's eyes widened as the familiar word that had been printed all over the place in the sewers flashed in her mind. "I know where the Institute is..."

Fang lead Leara into the deserted old building they were staying in for the night. Of course, Max looked everything but happy to see her.

"Long time no see..." Max muttered, barely audible. "I thought I got rid of you..."

Fang shot Max a glance and she seemed to recoil. Fang cleared his throat. "Well, Max. I have some good news. Guess what Leara found today?"

Max shot Leara an evil glance. "Oh, I don't know...? Maybe she found her own guy to chase after?" She bit down on her tongue as Fang gave her a "shut-up" look.

"No," Fang said, "She found the Institute."

Max's eyes widened to their fullest extent. "Why didn't you say so? We have to go! We have got to go there _now_!"

As Max jumped up, Fang put a hand against her chest. "No, Max. Look at the younger ones; they are practically asleep right now. We all need some rest. Especially Leara; she's running a fever..."

Max raised her hand to slap her forehead, but decided not to. "Fang, we all run a high temperature you idiot."

Fang shook his head and grabbed Max's hand. He placed it on Leara's forehead as both of the girls flinched. Max brought her hand back to her side. "Yeah, I get it now. Okay, we'll sleep for tonight. But tomorrow, Leara, you have to lead us to the Institute."

Leara nodded as Max crawled over to Angel, muttering things like, "Don't know why _you _got to find it... I'm the one saving the world..." and such. Her rants made her sound like a lunatic.

Leara laid down a little ways away from the flock as Fang lay down near Iggy. She could hear them whispering, but they were very quite. Too quiet for her to eavesdrop. She decided to give up and rested her head on her hands. She partially curled up like a cat and soon fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 8

**I'll say this right now; this is not going to exactly follow the way the series goes. So, please don't review about that. That's why this is a _fanfiction_. **

**Thanks again for the rates and reviews and they are still greatly appreciated! If I don't add another chapter for awhile, that's because the next chapters are in my school journal. I have a lot written ahead and I just have to copy and retype it =) Thanks for sticking with my story for those of you who have been reading this since I first uploaded!**

**Chapter 8**

A prodding feeling on her arm woke Leara up. The Gasman looked over her as she opened her eyes. "Max says it's time to get up," he said, as he brought his hand back to his side. He turned around and walked towards Iggy.

Leara sat up and stretched, and noticed she kind of stretched like a cat, with her arms way out in front of her. She quickly brought her arms back to her side and stretched out her wings. The tips of her feathers looked gray. _I must need to take a bath..._

After about an hour, everyone was up and ready. They all took off into the sky and Max came into wingspan of Leara. "Alright, take us to the Institute. _Please_."

Leara was surprised; Max was actually going to act nice now? This "Institute" must have been very important to her.

As they landed in a dark alley, they came out on the street Leara walked down kicking a can the day before. She followed her steps and came to the open man hole. She motioned the flock down the hole.

Nudge curled her nose as she jumped down. "Leara, it _stinks_ down here! How could you have bared it?"

Gazzy gave a goofy grin and laughed, "Whoops, sorry!" He turned and slapped high-fives with Iggy and Leara was surprised to see that Iggy didn't miss.

Leara took off flying again and everyone followed her. She noticed that it was Max that trailed right behind her and Fang was a ways back, whispering with Iggy again. Not caring anymore what they were talking about, she brought her attention back to retracing her flight.

From her fever the night before, she felt so much better. In the dark, everything suddenly seemed sharper though. She wondered why, but remembered she was half bird and had freaking _bird wings_ protruding from her back.

They landed near the door and Leara tried to pull it open. It was locked and she said, "Hmm, they must've re-locked the door..."

Max sighed and said, "Iggy, locked door, twelve o'clock." Iggy smiled and rubbed his hands together. He went to work on the door and within moments, he swung the door open.

Leara lead them down the stairs and into the dark room; but, a computer screen broke through the darkness and shone on the walls around. She saw that the one winged girl was gone and some of the cages looked empty besides the ones with sleeping creatures.

But, the flock was too busy with the computer. Nudge was sitting at it and she rested her hands on the keyboard. Suddenly, she started typing and she was allowed into the system. Max was astonished. "How'd you do that?"

Nudge shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. The password just like, came to me."

Max smiled. "Well, at least we're in the system now. Alright, Fang, Iggy, and Gasman, you guys go check things out. Nudge, you know what to do. Angel, you-- Where'd Angel go?"

Angel had been staring through the huge glass window. "Right here Max. You should look at this..."

Max's eyes widened as she saw all the experiments. "Oh my God..." she muttered. She noted the electronic lock and said, "Nudge, when you're done, we've got another code for you to crack."

Nudge had been printing pages, but came over to the window. "Oh, the poor things," she sniffled and rested her hand over the number pad. She soon punched in a code and the door unlocked. Max and Angel went in and unlocked the cages as Leara stood there, wondering what she should do.

Max herded the kids out of the room and into the room with all the computers. Max and the rest were talking as Leara walked over to the table with needle that she pricked herself with. She eyed the bottle with the liquid; there wasn't much left. The words on it were familiar yet not to her and she was unsure what it meant.

As she had it dangerously close to her hand, Fang came up to her. "What are you looking at?" He asked and caused Leara to accidentally prick herself again with the needle. What was left of the weird liquid was now in her bloodstream.

Leara sighed and handed the bottle to Fang. "I was trying to figure out what this says..." Fang eyed it and read the word over and over again.

"No clue. Sorry, I don't know my scientific names very well. All I know is that it's some kind of scientific name for an animal of some sort." He looked as Max began to call the flock and said they were leaving.

Leara followed and held the door open for all the escaping experiments. After the last experiment, which was part turtle it looked like from a shell-like structure on its back, she shut the door and took off after Max. Max had been telling the experiments some ways to ensure their survival and gave them directions out of the sewer. Then, she turned and motioned her flock to follow her to the nearest man hole. Leara's small reign of flying in the front was gone, just like that.

Max looked back at Nudge and asked, "You've got those papers, right?"

Nudge nodded and pulled the corner of a stack of papers out from underneath her zip-up sweater. "Got 'em."

They had been up in the air, flying away from New York and Max lead them down to a secluded forest area. "I'm just curious..." Max said.

Nudge pulled the papers out and scanned through them quickly. She mouthed peoples names as she passed out papers. But, there were no papers for Max. "Sorry, Max. There's nothing; absolutely nothing."

Max shrugged her shoulders and acted like she could care less. But, Leara knew she must've been hurting.

Leara looked down at her paper and searched over it. The paper didn't say much about her, but when she got to the portion about her parents, it said it big black letters that gave her a heart attack, "DECEASED". Underneath, it read "Cause of death: Household fire". Leara gave the papers back to Nudge.

Nudge looked at Leara's face. "Are you okay? You are really pale. I mean, normally you're pale, but you're _really_ pale right now. Is everything okay? I--"

"My parents are dead," Leara said. Nudge mouthed, "Oh" and looked at Max. "Well, maybe it was better not to look right now. We should bring the papers back together and get going again, guys. We've got a long journey to who-know-where."

Nudge grabbed all the papers as the Gasman complained that he didn't have enough time to read through the papers. Max explained that they would look through them again another day, but they needed to get going.

As they took off into the afternoon air, Leara understood her pyrophobia and why she had nightmares about something burning. She realized she never should have looked at the papers, but it was better to know than to not. Shaking her head, she just looked back ahead at the people flying in front of her. Maybe some day everything would all make sense.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The setting sun shone a bright gold over the tree line horizon. A gentle breeze provided a nice cool feeling on her face after the hot summer air. The wind tickled her primary feathers, which made her neck hairs stand on end. The feeling of freedom rushed over her, even though in the back of her mind she knew she was flying for her life. A genetic freakazoid, she had to fly with the flock mostly at night. Six other people to keep her company during the long nights.

Her wings pumped in a certain rhythm she got used to. She looked over to one of the boys in the flock and he gave her a warm smile. Her heart fluttered and her pale face turned pink as she returned his smile with one of her own.

Though, she almost had a heart attack when the flock leader saw this action and shot her a glare of pure hatred and jealousy. Fang liked Leara, not Max. But Max liked Fang and didn't like Leara because they both liked Fang. Leara didn't typically like Max either, because Max was also too bossy and full of herself. It was just one of those big love-hate triangles.

The three-way staring competition went on for a few minutes, but stopped when Angel spoke up. "Max, I'm really hungry." Max looked away and flew closer to her "baby".

"Okay sweetie. We'll fly down into this town below us and see if there is a grocery store open or something." Max ordered everyone to start flying down to a patch of woods outside the town.

Leara really hated being ordered around by Max, but it was her only way to survive and stay out of the "School".

Once they landed, they walked around the town until they found a huge convenience store. The sign in the window read, "Now open twenty-four hours!"

Max removed the shape that she had zipped up in her hoodie; turns out that when the flock had freed some experiments from the Institute, Angel somehow concealed a stowaway. He was quite heavy for her; a small black Scottie dog. His name was Total and not soon after the flock found out that he could _talk_. Hard to believe, but it is true.

Iggy offered to stay outside with Total, since pets weren't allowed inside. When the rest of the flock got inside the store, one huge poster hanging from the ceiling attracted the younger ones like a magnet: "TOYS".

Leara followed Fang and Max through the groceries, not sure what to do. Max kept turning and giving her ugly looks, but Leara tried her best to ignore them; Max gave them too much for them to really sting.

"We can only buy what we can carry..." Max said aloud as she pulled some frozen dinners out of the freezer, creating a cloud of steam around her.

"We know, Max. That's the third time you've said that," Leara muttered.

Max scowled at Leara. "Do you have something to say?" she growled and crossed her arms across her chest.

Leara shrugged her shoulders and said coolly, "All I said was that you're repeating yourself."

"Do you have a problem with the way I lead this flock?!" Max suddenly snarled, throwing the frozen boxes into the cart.

Leara slowly shook her head. "No, it's just you keep repeating yourself. It kind of gets... annoying..."

Fang backed up and mumbled something about getting the younger three from the toy aisle. He was gone in a flash.

"Oh, and you're not annoying? You don't think it's annoying when I see you making googly-eyes at Fang? You better back off, because he is _mine_!" Max's face was bright red and she began to take deep breaths.

"Excuse me for being attracted to him! There is nothing on him that marks him as _your _territory either! Besides, he thinks of you as a _sister_, not a _girlfriend_. That, my friend, is a little something called _incest_," Leara lightly growled, starting to get angry.

"You know what? I am _so _sick of you! If all you want from the flock is Fang, then forget it," Max warned.

Leara frowned. "Fine! I will leave; again. Go save the world and whatever. But, when Fang won't have you, don't come crying to me. I'm sick of you, too. You think you're top dog and can boss everyone around. You think too much about yourself and no one else!"

With that, she turned on her heels and left with a huff. Her pale face was red and her steps came down as stomps.

As she walked outside, she heard a muffled, "GET OFF ME!" On the bench in front of the store was where Iggy was sitting; also were the sound came from.

Underneath Iggy was a squirming black shape: Total. Leara gave a confused look and asked, "Uhm, Iggy...? What are you doing?"

Iggy looked towards the sound of her voice with his pale gray eyes. "Oh, hey Leara. I'm just dogsitting, that's all."

Leara sighed and had the urge to smack her forehead. "Iggy, dogsitting doesn't mean you literally _sit _on the dog..."

Iggy nodded with a smile and said, "Oh, I know that. Total was being loud and annoying, and I told him that _I _am the dogsitter. So I sat on him." He stood up and let Total move away from him. The Scottie began to mutter things under his breath and Leara picked up quite a few swear words.

Iggy looked back at where he thought Leara was still standing. "Are you guys done shopping?"

Leara shook her head and replied, "No, they aren't; but I am. I'm... leaving the flock. I can't stand to be around Max any longer. I hope to see you around, Iggy. Can you tell Fang I said 'good-bye' as well?"

He just nodded with a confusion written all over his face. Leara looked and saw no human eyes around. She just took off right from where she was standing into the sky.

The sun had already set, making the night air even chillier as Leara crossed her arms over her chest, flying off into the distant horizon.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Leara knew she wasn't too far away from New York City, and flew towards the lights coming in the horizon. She had been here once before with Max's flock and freed mutants from the Institute. A younger bird kid she helped escape took the other bird kids with her and decided to live in New York. Since Leara helped them and she needed a place to stay, they might have open arms for her.

An empty run-down building was this flock's makeshift home. Leara flew silently into one of the many broken windows. The distant light of a fire led the way for Leara closer to the six-person flock. The eleven-year old girl was the only one Leara had met previously and the girl helped her friends out.

Her heart pounded in her chest, hoping that the girl remembered her. As she came closer, she could see a couple figures sleeping, two sitting by the fire, and the other two silently chasing each other around.

One of the sleeping figures picked his head up. "I hear something... Or someone." He quickly stood up and looked around. A little brunette girl walked up to him, patted his arm, and said, "I'll go check it out this time. I bet it's just a rat again... Ew..."

Leara held her breath as the girl began to walk towards her way. Though she tried to dive behind some crates, she failed because her movement was seen.

"Hey, I saw that! Show your face, you coward!" the girl shouted as she walked towards Leara. When the girl caught sight of Leara's face, she gasped.

"It's you! I'm so sorry! Are you alright? Why are you here and not with the other flock? Are they okay? Did--" the brunette started ranting, but Leara covered her mouth.

"I'm fine and so is the other flock, Kaylee. I just got into an argument and can't stay with them anymore. I came here to see if I could... you know... stay?" She blushed a little, embarrassed that she hadn't thought of a good way to ask.

Kaylee looked over to the older boy, around the same age as Leara, that came over. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't care. She helped us get out of there. I think the least we could do is let her stay."

Leara's face lit up, until he spoke up again. "But on one condition," he said, sounding like a warning. He had one finger pointing up and his face was stern.

"Bryce," Kaylee warned. "Why should she have to do something for us when we owe her our lives?"

Bryce ignored Kaylee's comment and continued, "If you stay, you have to lead this flock. I am not a good leader and I think you'd be better. You're also a girl, so you have motherly instincts or whatever it's called."

Leara's face flushed. "Umm..." she stuttered. "I guess I could... Just wasn't expecting to become leader if I joined..." She slowly walked closer to the fire, but she didn't sit close to it.

"I don't bite and the rest are asleep," Bryce mocked with a smile. Kaylee had walked off to lay down next to another little girl.

Leara shook her head. "It's not that; I'm afraid of fire. I don't know why. Just looking at it gives me the chills."

With a nod, Bryce laid down. "M'kay; well, I'm getting some shut-eye. See you in the morning," he yawned . Within three minutes, Leara could hear him snore softly.

She decided to get some rest as well and laid on the cold concrete floor. Though it was uncomfortable to start with, the thoughts of leadership caused her even more discomfort. Rolling from side to side, she was unable to find a good spot to fall asleep and felt horribly restless.

Suddenly, a small figure pressed itself against Leara. She gasped, but sighed when she saw that it was just a flock member. This little one looked to be four or five years old with bright blue eyes and a messy top of cropped blue-black hair.

"Sowwy if I scawed you," he said with a lisp. "I could feel how scawed you were and thought you might need some com.. comf..."

"Comforting?" Leara filled in with a small smile. She found his lisp adorable.

The little one nodded. "Yeah, that word. Oh, I almost fowgot; I'm Towonto and I'm fouw," he whispered. He closed his eyes and snuggled in closer to Leara.

Thinking of how cute he was, she realized Toronto had said he _felt_ how scared she was. He reminded her of Angel, who read and controlled minds. But Toronto felt emotions, not heard them.

Shaking the confusing thoughts from her mind, she rested her head back down on the ground. Looking at his messy hair, she placed her hand on his hair and began to stroke his head. Soon, she fell asleep, not feeling so overwhelmed anymore.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Sorry that this is taking so long, guys. School is here, so I should have some more time to type without having to leave all the time. **

**Once again, I'd like to say this: Max, Fang and the rest of the flock are a little OC because NO ONE can write a fanfiction without twisting each character a little bit! Thanks to those of you who understand what I'm talking about.**

The next morning, Leara was prodded awake by someone poking her. She opened her eyes to still see Toronto sleeping next to her, but a boy that looked to be eleven loomed over her. It was kind of hard to tell exactly how old he was with all the dirt caked onto his face.

"Can I help you? I haven't gotten your name yet. I'm Leara," she whispered, trying not to awaken Toronto.

"I'm Pigeon," the boy jutted his thumb against his chest. "Last night, I heard you and Bryce talking. So you're our new leader?"

With a bit of a blush she whispered back, "Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, Leara. I'm hungry. When can we get something to eat?"

Propping herself up on her elbows and then sitting up with a grunt, she said with gritted teeth from a sore back, "Well, is anyone else up? I know that Toronto is still sleeping." _Note to self, _she thought, _cement floors are just as bad as cages to sleep on_.

Pigeon shook his head and looked around. "No, looks like they're still sleeping. I'm just really, really hungry."

"How about we let everyone else finish resting; then we'll go see about some food, alright?"

Only shrugging, the young boy plopped down next to her and stretched out his wings. His name spoke for itself, as his wings were perfect proportionately sized pigeon wings for humans. Except, they were covered in dirt and dust.

"You never got washed very often, did you?" Leara noticed that the dirt on his wings also covered him from head to toe.

"Not really. I like the dirt. I hate baths and being clean. Don't know why, just do," he shrugged as he spoke.

Only smiling in response, a body stirred and caught Leara's attention. The girl across the room looked to be around Leara's age. Her hair was oddly colored: reddish-orange at the roots and descended to a yellow-white at the tips, which hung past her shoulders in a choppy, layered look. Amazingly, her hair looked exactly like fire, and gave Leara chills. The girl's wings were brown and looked like falcon wings.

Leara watched as the girl's eyes went from yellow-orange to red-orange as soon as they caught sight of Leara's face. "Who are you?" she demanded, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Trying to hide her amazement of the girl's color changing eyes, Leara simply replied, "I'm Leara, your... new flock leader." It felt sort of awkward to say it in that manner to her.

Seeing how no one else seemed to be having a problem with Leara, the girl settled herself and her eyes turned to a calm orange. "Oh. I'm Kiera. Say, weren't you in that other flock?"

"Yeah; the leader and I got into quite the argument. Something we just could not agree upon. Besides, they all grew up together; it was really awkward and I felt very out of place."

Nodding in understanding, Kiera crawled to their make-shift fire place and started a new one with an old lighter. Her eyes turned to a happy yellow watching the tiny flickering flames in amazement.

"Kiera... Do your eyes normally change color?" Leara finally spoke up. Never before, even though she had seen quite the odd things in her life time, had she seen something like this.

Diverting her attention for a moment, Kiera responded, "Yeah, they change with my mood. They tend to stay warm-colored, unless I'm depressed or ready to murder someone."

Leaning up to Leara's ear, Pigeon whispered, "We think the scientists gave her those eyes so they could tell when she's having a mood swing. She's bipolar or whatever it's called."

Suddenly, Kiera's eyes turned red-orange again as she shouted, "I do NOT have mood swings!"

The other four kids who were sleeping were now awake, their hands almost to their ears. "Kiera..." Bryce murmured tiredly. "Please, we were just trying to get a little extra sleep..."

Making their way to the fire, the two almost identical girls eyed Leara in the same way. Though one was definitely younger. In a sweet voice, the younger one asked, "Who are you?"

Before Leara could reply, Bryce spoke up. "This is Leara. Leara, this is Kaylee and Lacey." The girls raised their hand when their name was called. "Leara's our new flock leader. You'll do as she says or else."

Shooting Bryce a disapproving look as Toronto came and sat next to her, Leara reprimanded, "You don't have to be bossy about it." Only shrugging, Bryce put his hands behind his head and laid back onto the cement. "Whatever."

Looking back at Lacey, Leara noticed that Lacey's wings were pure white, like a dove's. Kaylee sat next to her, chatting away about something under her breath. The chatterbox's wings were gray with darker tips, like a chickadee.

"When can we eat? I'm so hungry," Pigeon whined. His eyes were big and pleading when Leara looked down at him.

"Oh, all right. We'll have to see what we can grab. Do you guys have any sweatshirts or something to throw over your wings?" Leara watched as one by one, they shook their heads. "Okay, we'll have to find some."

On top of the building, Leara watched everyone take off. Though they were a little shaky, they seemed to get the hang of it. Taking her place up front with Toronto not far behind, Bryce and Kiera took the back to watch the younger ones in the middle.

About to land in Central Park, six distant figures made Leara stop in her tracks in the air. Flying in closer, Max's face was soon not twenty feet away from Leara's, followed by the rest of the flock.

"Long time, no see," Max scoffed, crossing her arms.

Leara only frowned, but couldn't help but smile when she could see Fang. "Got a new flock?" Fang asked, trying not to meet Max's or Leara's gaze.

"What does it look like?!" Max snapped.

With a sigh, Leara had to make a snappy decision. Out of all the people to ask for help, Max was definitely way down on the list; but desperate times call for desperate measures. "Max, I need to ask a favor of you."

Raising an eyebrow, she retorted, "I would say something mean, but I wouldn't want you to feel stupid in front of your new flock. What do you want?"

Looking behind her, Bryce mouthed, "Go on..." Feeling ashamed, Leara looked Max straight in the face as best she could. "We need some cash, Max. Do you have any to spare?"

Easing up a little, Max reached in her pocket. "Oh, well, I guess. Here, we don't need this one anymore. Next time I'm at machine, maybe I'll send you some more. This one still has a good amount on it." She chucked something at Leara, and as she caught it, saw it was a credit card. "The pin is six-one-two-four. Don't spend it all in one place."

Pocketing the card, Leara nodded. "Thanks, Max."

"Well, we've got places to go, experiments to set free. I've got some world-saving business to attend to. See you around." Turning around, she took off, with her flock following; except for Fang.

While Leara's flock was conversing behind her, Fang confronted her and grabbed her hand, placing it over his chest. "Just promise me you'll be safe," he whispered.

Not able to look at his sympathetic look, Leara swallowed soundlessly. She tried to not let her cheeks turn a bright red. It seemed like she would choke every time she tried to open her mouth, so she simply nodded in response.

"Have to go, before Max gets worried. Hope to see you again." Letting go of her hand, he launched himself effortlessly after his disappearing flock. Watching as the sun hit each of his feathers perfectly, making them look almost purple, she mentally smacked herself for not talking or looking at him. _Seriously, when will I learn...?_


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**So, here's the twelfth chapter for those who have stuck with me. I'd like to rant about something new here:**

**For those who saw I changed my summary, I got quite the nasty review when I uploaded the eleventh chapter. Please, if you're going to criticize my writing, give me some tips to help me become better, not tell me, "You're pathetic and can't write." **

**And when I say there's no Fax, that doesn't mean that my story is any less good than those that do. I'm not a fan of Fax and I never will be; which means I don't plan on including it in my fan fictions. Thank you to those who understand what I'm ranting about and are just putting up with it in the meantime ^^**

**(Non-ranting) Oh and another thing I wanted to add: Leara uses some references that you think people living in a lab would never know of. In the lab, because she lived for so long, they decided to educate her, so the term "The School" is more literal than anything to her. **

On the ground, Leara decided to take her flock out to lunch. Subs, chips, and sodas sounded better than being stuck in a cramped, fancy restaurant, surrounded by people who stuck out their pinkies as they sipped perfectly at their tea. A couple benches in Central Park proved to be a good resting place as they gorged. Everyone sucked their meal down, except for Leara. She sat on a bench, picking at her sub, and her bag of chips still closed. Her mind was swarmed with all these "leader" thoughts and it was taking a toll on her.

"You gonna finish that?" Bryce brought her back to the present as he asked with a mouthful of chips. Without a second thought, she handed him the half of her sub she didn't touch. But knowing she still had to eat something, she forced herself to finish the sub and most of the chips.

_How does Max not go insane by all this? Keeping track of everyone, making sure there's no danger around every corner... This is all just enough to make a hippie turn into an ax murderer!_

After lunch, Leara and her new flock began to wander the streets of New York. Every little movement had Leara on edge, adrenaline starting to pump lightly through her veins. Toronto's small hand suddenly grasped hers as he smiled up at her. "It's okay," he seemed to coo. "The wolf-men all left. They were too focused on the other flock."

How he knew that for a fact was still unclear to Leara, but someone grasped her other hand. Lacey smiled up at her when Leara looked. "Where are we going now?"

Looking at the flock, Leara remembered they needed some new clothes. Down the street was a sign that said "Second-Hand Store: New for You". "Well, there. You guys seem to be in need of some good clothes. We can probably pick up some back-packs there too, so we can carry things easier."

"Yes!" Kaylee thrust her fist in the air. "Oh, I'm so sick of these mismatched outfits! Do you think we could each get outfits for like, every day of the week? I wonder if they have pink shirts... And jeans with pink flower decals, like that one girl over there. Should I ask her where she got those? They're so cute!"

Bryce groaned as Leara put a finger to Kaylee's lips. "Let's just get a pair to wear and an extra pair, just in case, and start off with that, okay? A lot of clothes add up and could weigh your pack down."

Inside the store, Kaylee and Lacey skipped to the little girl's clothes, chatting away as they tore through the racks. Without a word, Bryce slipped off to the men's section. Mumbling under her breath, Kiera began to blandly look through the junior's; it was obvious she wasn't one for clothes too much.

Helping Toronto, Leara only grabbed a random hoodie to slip on. She didn't need much for herself.

An hour later, everyone had some new decent clothes. Kaylee "strutted her stuff" in her new pink shirt and girly jeans, with Lacey nearby in the same jeans and a purple shirt. Kiera found a pair of dark jeans and she stuck to her warm-colored shirts. Bryce just found a nice pair of jeans with a blue sweater that read "Detroit Lions"; he seemed to get many dirty looks for some odd reason. Toronto had found a cute pair of jeans and blue shirt with a bunch of different super heroes on it, with a black sweater to pull over. Pigeon wasn't as picky, and just chose something. He'd dirty it in a couple of days, anyway.

In a nearby alleyway, they pulled out their new shirts, only to realize they had nothing to slit holes with. Until Kiera spoke up and held out a pocket knife. "Where'd you get this?" Leara asked suspiciously.

Kiera shrugged, "Dunno. Just pick pocketed some dude and decided it would come in handy."

Only rolling her eyes in response, Leara took it and began slitting the back of their new shirts.

After finding a good place to take off, the flock was up in the air and flying away from New York. Leara kept the lead, keeping Toronto in eye sight and having the other oldest two in the back.

But Bryce came closer to Leara, his feathers almost brushing against hers on his down stroke. "Where to next, oh faithful leader?" he asked sarcastically.

Wanting to stick her tongue out at him, she just simply replied, "Well, I don't really know. I've been thinking, though. Max is supposed to be the world-saver, right?" Bryce raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Never mind," Leara said. "I'll explain later. But there's no way her flock is going to be able to save the whole world by themselves. There are other Schools and Institutes all over the world." Each bird kid had a little shake as they flew. "Those experiments need a savior, like we did. So I say we give Max a little anonymous help."

"Okay, that was a nice pep talk," Bryce frowned. "But _where_ are we going?"

Shrugging her shoulders and looking to the sun, Leara stated, "Where ever the wind takes us."

* * *

Off in the unknown, the flock decided to settle in the woods below them for the night. The younger kids complained of how hungry they were, though they had never made a stop to the grocery store to grab some food.

Bryce took the pocketknife from Kiera and stated he would go and try to find something to eat. Sitting on a log, Lacey rubbed her arms and complained, "It's so cold. I wish we had a fire or something."

Already on it, Kiera had some sticks in hand and began to think of ways to create a fire with only the sticks. Though she kept making faces, her last and longest-standing one an odd grin.

"What's so funny?" Kaylee questioned, more concerned than anything.

"Oh, nothing," Kiera smiled. "Just wishing I had more stuff so I could make some explosives. How I love fire…"

Pigeon kicked at some dust and said with his head down, "You're weird Kiera. You know that, right?"

Turning on her heels with a red face, she screamed, "Yes, I am completely aware that I am weird! Do you have a problem with that?" As she was screaming, the sticks in her hand spontaneously combusted. Seeing the burning sticks, Kiera dropped them and instantly put her fingers in her mouth with a pained look.

"How on Earth did that happen?" Leara exclaimed. Surprised by the fire, she had flinched and was leaning backwards.

"I dunno… But I burnt the tips of my fingers." Kiera's words were a little jumbled since she was trying to speak with her fingers in her mouth.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Well, that was random," Kaylee whispered with wide eyes to Lacey who in turn nodded.

"I heard the scientists say something about how we could be mutating on our own," Leara pondered.

Out of the bushes, Bryce came back with dead rabbit in his hand. "Caught one," he grinned.

While they prepared a fire, Lacey asked, "So what you're saying is we have to wait for our special powers to come?"

"Though we know that Kaylee already got hers; she can talk really fast, so no one can understand her!" Pigeon laughed.

"Shut up, Pigeon," Kaylee groaned.

Pigeon blew raspberries and mocked, "Shut up, Kaylee!" With no warning, Kaylee pounced on top of Pigeon. He pulled himself free as Kaylee chased him around the clearing.

Leara was able to get in between them and grabbed the collar of their shirts. "Now, let's sit down, relax, and enjoy the fact we have food _without_ fighting."

"But I can't eat a bunny-rabbit," Lacey cried with her lower lip sticking out.

_This is going to be a long night… _Leara thought, sighing.

Things seemed to go downhill as she guessed. Kiera had begun to pick on the already-crying Lacey, telling her she would burn her if she didn't stop crying. Pigeon had gone to find some berries or any other food and came back covered in mud instead. One of his wings brushed against Kaylee, who yelled at him about getting her new clothes dirty. Instantly, she began chasing him again.

Bryce tried to get Kiera to leave Lacey alone. He attempted to lead Lacey away, but she gave a powerful kick that was meant for Kiera and connected with Bryce's groin instead. As he was down in the dirt writhing in pain, Lacey and Kiera started arguing again.

Toronto, though, sat next to the fire with a steamed piece of rabbit that he nibbled on happily.

Finally chasing them down again, Leara was able to get Kaylee and Pigeon to sit on opposite sides of the fire peacefully. Until they began arguing on who got the bigger piece of rabbit.

Now it was Kiera who was chasing Lacey in circles as the seven-year old began bawling. Bryce managed to crawl over to the fire and lay on the ground, muttering, "Ow" over and over.

"Alright, that's enough you guys!" Leara yelled over the commotion. The flock all looked at her and then instantly began arguing again, blaming each other for angering Leara.

"Leara said that is enough!" Toronto shouted, scaring Leara. Just as he said that, everything seemed to slow down and everyone stopped arguing.

"I feel… Calm. Kind of tired. What did you do, Toronto?" Kaylee muttered sleepily.

Only shrugging his shoulders, he said coolly, "Leara wanted you guys to stop yelling, so I made you guys calm down."

"Now you can feel _and_ control emotions?" Pigeon asked, astonished. "Not fair…"

After they ate, Leara tried to get the younger ones to fall asleep. But they were still wound up and didn't want to sleep.

"Can we play a game? I don't know of any, but we can make one up," Lacey pleaded with big eyes. Her eyes were not only big, but they almost shone and were watery. There was no way Leara could say no to a face like that.

"How about we play hide-and-seek? You guys hide somewhere, like in a bush, a tree or something. Whoever the seeker is has to count to fifty and then tries to find everybody else. Once you're found, you have to come back here and stay quiet. Got it?"

Lacey, Kaylee, and Pigeon all nodded in unison. "Who'll be seeker?" Kaylee asked, excited.

"I will," Leara said. "Everybody else can play if they want, too." Giving Bryce and Kiera a look, they understood that they were pretty much being forced to play.

Tugging on her shirt, Toronto pleaded, "Can I seek with you? I don't want to be alone."

"As long as you promise not to cheat."

Giving a silly grin, he nodded and closed his eyes, getting ready to count. As soon as Bryce saw both Toronto's and Leara's eyes closed, he ran off into the woods, signaling the others to hide.

Bryce found a large oak with branches big and high up enough for him to sit on and not be easily seen. Kiera found some brush where she curled into a ball. Kaylee had Lacey help bury her in a pile of dead leaves. Pigeon had found a bush next to a mud puddle, though he was finding it difficult to not jump into the mud and play in that instead.

But Lacey never found a spot. No one would let her hide with them. "Thirty-five… Thirty-six…" Leara's voice rang through the woods. Lacey tried to hide with her sister, but she shooed her away, telling her to find her own spot.

A tall tree with a thick trunk was the best she could find. Lacey rested against the tree and covered her face with her hands. "If I can't see them, they can't see me…" she muttered to herself repeatedly, concentrating on not being seen.

"Fifty!" Leara shouted. "Ready or not, here we come!" The two ran into the woods and began searching. Kaylee was found first, but that was because she ran back to the makeshift camp screaming; a slug had crawled onto her while she was buried in the leaves. Pigeon had grown bored of hiding and turned to the mud pile instead. Leara's sharp vision quickly saw Kiera's brightly colored hair in the bushes. Right as she looked up, Bryce lost his balance and fell out of the great oak.

But Lacey was nowhere to be found. The whole flock searched everywhere for her, all over the woods three times over. Even Toronto couldn't locate her.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap…" Leara made sure to not cuss like a sailor in front of the younger ones as she paced back and forth in front of the fire.

Kaylee was the one freaking out the most. "Oh my gosh, where's my sister? You didn't find her yet? What happened to her? Poor Lacey! She must be so scared and cold. Why would she just disappear like that?" She rambled whatever was on her mind until she had to catch her breath.

Leara shook her head and placed her arm around Kaylee's small, bony shoulders. "I don't know, Kaylee. Toronto and I searched everywhere for her. There wasn't a single trace…"

"Well," Kiera started as she threw more sticks onto the fire. "What do we do now?"

Bryce spoke up as Leara opened her mouth. "Knowing Lacey, she probably remembers her way back here. Let's wait a good ten minutes and if nothing turns up, we'll go search again."

Ten minutes went by, every second feeling like a minute by itself. Ten minutes turned to twenty and there was still no sign of Lacey.

"Alright, that's it." Leara pushed herself up off the ground. "Bryce, Toronto, you guys come with me. Kiera, you stay here and watch since the others are asleep…"

A rustle in the bushes caused all of the flock to snap their heads and stare around the camp. A figure burst through the bush and collided with Kaylee; into a bear hug.

"Lacey!" Leara sighed with relief. "What happened?"

"Oh, I had gotten kind of lost on my way back. Though I knew I won." She gave a big cheesy smile.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Leara eyed Lacey curiously. "So, where did you hide?"

Pointing into the forest, Lacey simply replied, "Under the big oak. The same one Bryce was in and fell out of."

"But," Bryce said, "how? I would've seen you at some point on my way down."

Putting her hands in front of her face, Lacey giggled, "Like this." _If I can't see them, they can't see me…_

Slowly but surely, Lacey literally disappeared into thin air. "Toronto, can you feel her?" Leara asked warily, raising an eyebrow at this new skill.

"No…" Toronto gasped. "It's like… she's gone."

Suddenly, Lacey popped back into reality with a big grin. "See? I win!" she giggled.

"Yeah, you won…" Leara muttered as she nodded, but her face was taken over with complete astonishment. "How did you end up finding your way back?"

Lacey held up her pointer finger, telling them to wait. She turned to the bush behind her and began to whisper. "Great, now she talks to bushes…" Kiera whispered as she rolled her eyes. Pigeon covered his mouth to hide his giggling.

Leara turned back in time to see Lacey drag a couple kids out of the bushes. They were twins, a girl and a boy. The girl had longer brown hair while the boy's hair was hidden by a hat. Though they were both wearing hats, like cute little snow caps with the fuzzy tops that looked like bunny tails. Strangely, their pinkish noses twitched every few seconds.

"This is December and Malachi," Lacey introduced the girl, then the boy. "They helped me find my way back. I recognized them from the Institution."

After sharing a look to each other, the girl spoke first. "We helped sniff you guys out. Our way of repaying our debt from when you helped us escape."

"_Sniff _us out?" Kiera repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Again, the twins exchanged glances and Leara swore that they were somehow communicating with each other by the look in their eyes. Together, the twins removed their hats. "We're rabbits," they said, as ears dropped down from the side of their heads. December's ears were blackish-brown and Malachi's were white.

"So, do you guys have tails, too?" Kaylee joked with a big grin. The twins shook their head, making the flock think they were seeing double.

A_ whump whump whump _started to sound over the mutants' heads, making them look up. A helicopter came into view over head. Shadows were dropping out of the sky from the huge aircraft and landed all around the clearing. Erasers surrounded the mutants, all with a cruel snarling smile on their lips.

Drawing the flock in closer, Leara whispered, "Be prepared to throw a few punches, guys..." December and Malachi joined the huddle, for their escape route was now blocked by the huge wolf-men.

A familiar face took the first steps towards the flock and caused Leara's jaw to drop. It was Ari, Jeb's son. She remembered Ari always following mutants around when he was a little human boy. Now, he was a full grown Eraser, the meanest looking of them all. And Ari was only seven years old.

"I was looking for one flock, but found another one," Ari sneered like the predator he was.

Leara frowned and warned, "Don't even think about it, Ari. We've done nothing to you. I also have no clue where Max and her flock went."

Ari looked to the Erasers all around and said, "Well, since they don't know anything, I guess that still gives us a reason to beat the tar out of them." The other Erasers smiled and were jumping on top of the flock within a split second.

Silently, Leara thanked Max for being strict about daily training, even if it was only for a couple minutes. Her new flock would definitely need the same.

Within a few minutes, Kaylee and Lacey were already knocked out and Pigeon was struggling to see straight with a black eye. Toronto was trying to control the Erasers to go back into their helicopter, but he could only control one mind at a time. Bryce was fairing well until two Erasers came up behind him with a sneak attack. Kiera was holding her hand to her chest as she kicked an Eraser in the face; another Eraser was rolling on the ground, trying to stop the flames that engulfed him. December and Malachi were trying their best by kicking the Erasers and ended up even breaking some bones.

The fight had been going on for quite some time. Leara had focused on Ari, since he seemed to be the strongest. It also gave the others a better chance of making it through the fight.

Wiping the blood off his chin after Leara had kicked him in the face, Ari snarled. "Forget this. We don't have to waste our time here. Let's go find Max."

As the Erasers gave a second glance to the bird kids lying around, Ari commanded, "Come on. Let them try to survive. I find this hilarious that they think they can make it out here. We'll come back for you mutants after we find Max." And just like that, the copter lifted into the sky and was gone.

Bryce was clutching his sides in pain as Leara took count of all the younger ones lying unconscious around the camp. She cursed under her breath, took some water, and splashed it on the kids' faces to wake them up. Bryce and Leara began to check for broken bones or any serious injuries.

Thankfully, there were none. There were just feathers and patches of fur and blood scattered everywhere. "Now we know we definitely need to start some training."

December and Malachi were still sitting with the flock as the sun started to climb over the horizon. The younger kids were complaining of how sore and tired they were.

Unsure of where they were going next, the flock started to pack up their things anyway. "Do you want us to go with you?" December asked Leara, following her as she was picking up.

Leara had forgotten they were part rabbit, not bird. "It would be too difficult for you to keep up with us as we're in the air. Maybe you two should just go into hiding and keep yourselves out of trouble. I'm sure we'll find a way to get to you if we need to."

The twins were both looking at her with sad eyes, but nodded and said their good-byes. As they walked off together, Leara hoped they would be a lot safer if they weren't with the flock.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Knowing they were low on food, Leara decided they needed to find a nearby town. For awhile, they were lost in the woods, until Toronto was able to pick up on some other people and lead them to a town.

Thankfully, the town wasn't crowded like New York. The flock easily maneuvered through the streets and found a grocery store. They grabbed as much food that they could stuff into their bags and found a nice fast-food joint for lunch.

Eating on a couple benches along the side walk, Kaylee realized they were sitting in front of a pet shop. Through the window, she could see little shapes moving around and she squealed with delight. "Oh my gosh, these kittens are so cute! Can we get one, Leara? Please?" She pressed her face against the glass and the kittens began to mew. Leara couldn't deny it; they were cute, even though they were so tiny and fragile looking.

"No, Kaylee. That would be another mouth to feed and extra luggage. You wouldn't want that kitty to get hurt, would you?" Leara said, hating to crush her hopes. The other kids finished their lunch and joined Kaylee at the window.

"Can we just go inside and pet them real quick?" Kaylee pleaded with folded hands and big eyes.

With a sigh, Leara gave up, knowing she would never win. Kaylee already got the other kids joining in on the pleas.

The litter of six kittens was even noisier inside than from the other side of the glass. Each kid already had a cat in their hands; even Bryce and Kiera.

Each kitten was different from the other. There was an orange tabby, a calico, a black and white one, a darker tabby, a black cat and a white cat. They even seemed to have their own personalities.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Kaylee moving towards an employee with the calico still in her hands. "Pardon me, sir. Where is the kittens' mother?" she asked politely while stroking the fluff ball.

"These kittens were found on the street, little lady. Their mother was nowhere to be found," he cocked an eyebrow. Slowly, Leara moved towards them. Something was up.

Kaylee frowned. "Nuh-uh. They said that you took their mother away. Now they're hungry and they can't eat that dry food yet. Besides, they say it tastes awful…"

Covering Kaylee's mouth, Leara apologized, "I'm so sorry. Crazy kids these days, you know?" She dragged Kaylee back to the others. "Put the kittens back, guys. We've got to get out of here; quick."

Over her shoulder, Leara saw the man picking up a phone and beginning to dial.

As soon as they were out, they sprinted down the sidewalk until they stopped by a little park that was empty.

"What's going on now?" Kiera asked, while her cocked eyebrow and tone giving away the fact that she was annoyed.

Kaylee shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. The kittens kept crying and complaining about everything. Thought I would try to help a little."

"So you," Leara looked at Kiera, "can play with fire. Lacey can make herself disappear. Toronto can feel and control emotions. And now Kaylee can talk to animals. It's Bryce, Pigeon, or me next."

"But before we worry about that," Bryce butted in, "we need to figure out where we're going!"

"I've been thinking about that. Like I said before, there's no way that Max can 'save the world' with just her flock."

Bryce shook his head. "I know. But we need actual _plans_, not just guessing and 'going wherever the wind takes us'."

"Max was starting to head south, so we should too. It's going to be a long flight trying to find them. We might even get lost. And Erasers; let's pray we don't run into any more Erasers."

A couple days of flying and sleeping in trees went by, but they couldn't have gone any slower.

"I'm so _booooorrreeeddd_…" Pigeon whined for the sixteenth time.

"There's nothing I can do, Pigeon. Why don't you make up a game?" Looking over her shoulder, Leara noticed that the younger ones were flying this way and that, trying to entertain them.

Next to her, Toronto was flying steadily, until she saw his brow furrow and he stopped. "Something's coming," he whispered.

Up from the forest below them, two shadows were coming fast. As the shadows came closer, Leara was able to make out that one was much smaller than the other and had lots of curly hair. The other was dark, muscular, and she got butterflies when she realized it was Angel and Fang.

"My God, how'd you find us?" Leara had to hold back a huge grin.

Jutting a thumb at Angel, he smirked, "Mind reader. What are you guys doing out here?"

"Well, we all agreed that you guys can't save the world all on your own. We thought you might need some back up."

Bryce muttered, "I don't know when _we _made this decision…"

"Too true," Fang pondered. "We're going to DC right now and I guess we'll see what happens from there. Nudge and I are going to start checking out the area first. Want to come with?"

Oddly, Angel was quiet during the whole conversation. It just wasn't like her. But Leara could see in the girl's eyes that she was in deep thought at the moment.

"Max may not like it, but sure. We'd be glad to help." The rest of Leara's flock seemed to be nodding in agreement.

The flock had all huddled together and began conversing in excited whispers. Angel tugged on Fang's shirt and pointed down towards the woods. "I'll be down in a minute," Fang nodded.

After the girl was gone, Leara's stomach twisted into a nervous knot. She could tell that Fang wanted to be alone for a minute.

"Leara, close your eyes for a sec," he said, slowly.

Wordlessly, she closed her eyes. As soon as they were shut, something pressed against her lips. Her stomach flip-flopped as she realized it had to have been Fang. It had almost felt like a spark jumped between their lips when they touched, causing her cheeks to turn bright red.

But as soon as it happened, it was over. "We'll find you again in the next hour. The woods over towards the west should be a good place to hide from Max and rest for a little bit," Fang said, looking at Leara's red face. He had almost a smirk on his face as he met her eyes.

He began to fly down when hooting and hollering came behind Leara. "Kiss her again!" Bruce called out. Immediately, the shape of Fang flying took a huge lurch down in his descent.

"It's so cute!" Kaylee and Lacey cooed. Kiera crossed her arms and gave a half smile. "No staying alone for you two."


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Down in the forest, there as a homey little clearing full of logs for perfect seats. Though they weren't as comfy as they looked.

Bryce was massaging shoulders and around wings on everyone while they relaxed. He really knew what he was doing. "Wonder what they're going to DC for," Bryce muttered as he was working out the kinks in Kaylee's shoulders.

"What even is DC?" Pigeon asked, as he was lying in a pile of dirt. Leara rolled her eyes and reminded herself to keep him out of the filth.

"I remember the white coats talking about it. It's huge and where the president lives. Oh, to the left a little more, Bryce." Kaylee seemed to be enjoying herself.

Leara shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows; maybe Fang knows about it."

A couple snickers escaped from the flock's lips as she turned red. Something tugged on the side of her shirt and Leara looked to see Toronto smiling back at her.

"It's okay, Leara," he said soothingly. "He feels the same way you do. But he's kind of confused, too."

_What could he be confused about? Maybe it's just something in his mind… _Letting her thoughts wander for a moment, she recalled their fight with the Erasers a couple days ago.

"Alright guys, I've got something new I want to try," she announced, trying to sound more leader-like.

Bryce paused his kneading of Lacey's back, making her frown.

"You all remember a couple days ago when we fought those Erasers, right?"

"How could we forget? We got our as—butts kicked." Kiera bit her tongue. That was all they needed: mutant freaks with potty-mouths.

Only nodding, Leara declared in a softer tone, "Well, next time we'll be the ones kicking butt. To get there, we need to have some daily training. Max helped me learn how to fight, though there's still room for improvement."

Lacey gave Leara a sad look and whined, "But, I don't to fight. It's not nice."

"It's either you fight, they kill you, or they take you back to the lab," Kiera stated. Her glare was a bit too serious.

As her face flushed to a pale white, Lacey muttered, "Guess I'll fight…"

With a stern glance at Kiera, Leara clapped her hands together. "Okay. Pop quiz: Erasers just dropped from the sky. What do you do?"

"Make them feel pain," Toronto said, causing Leara's face to flush. Every head turned to the four-year old. "What?" he shrugged his shoulders, as if his response was normal.

"You are one freaky kid…" Bryce muttered, with an almost disgusted look on his face.

"It's a start," Leara said. "An easy way for self-defense as well."

"Can I burn them?" Kiera smiled. Leara rolled her eyes. "You have to be careful, Kiera. The last time you did, you burnt yourself. Speaking of which, are your hands okay?"

"Just dandy," Kiera held up her hands to show a couple blisters and some red skin. Nothing horrible and with their healing, her hands would be like new in the next couple days.

Pigeon stood up and kicked at the dust. "Great, just great! Everyone has something to do except me. Except for me! Why can't I do something cool?"

"But you do have something special," Leara said as she squatted down to Pigeon's size. "You have awesome will power, Pigeon. During that fight, you gave it your all. You didn't go down easy and you got some good hits in before you got knocked down. I don't think my will power is as strong as yours. You tell yourself that you can do it and I'm pretty sure next time no one will want to mess with you." The older kids could tell she was more trying to comfort Pigeon, even though she was partly right.

With teary eyes, he gave her a little grin. "You mean it?"

She chuckled, "Of course. Now, what I'm saying to you goes to all of you. With will power, you can do what you thought you couldn't. It's about believing in yourself and the rest of the flock. We're fighting for each other so we don't end back up in the lab. How about we start off with punching?"

About an hour later, Fang and Nudge walked into the clearing as Leara was helping Pigeon learn to kick while still in flight.

Nudge squealed with delight. "Leara, I thought I'd never see you again! Max kept saying she never wanted to see you again. You remember Total, right? Did you ever have a dog? Oh wait, never mind… We're on our way to scout out DC! I planned out a map and everything. The rest of the flock went back to New York and are hiding out there. But we're here and boy, am I excited! I-"

In the strangling hug Nudge was giving Leara, she managed to cover Nudge's mouth. "I know. Fang found us earlier, so we all know. Jeez, you talk just as much as Kaylee."

"Bet she can't," Kaylee challenged. "I'm the champ when it comes to talking."

"Have you got a challenge! I once talked for three straight hours. Ready?" Nudge confidently strode up to face Kaylee. With both of them at the same height, everyone else could see the sparks fly from their eyes.

"Dear God, someone save us all before we explode!" Bryce mocked, throwing his hands in the air.

"That can be arranged," Kiera smiled evilly.

So the chaos began: Nudge and Kaylee kept talking and talking while Kiera had a little flame on her fingertip, trying to set Bryce on fire. Toronto stood silently as Pigeon threw a handful of dirt at Lacey, who began to cry because her new shirt was dirty.

Leara groaned as Fang chuckled, "Not easy leading, is it?"

"You want to take my place? At least while we scout out," Leara asked as she walked over to Lacey and brushed the dirt off of her shirt. She shot a dirty glance to Pigeon and he knew he was in trouble.

"Nah, you should keep your place. Think I might lose my head if I tried."

Squatting down to Lacey's size, Leara said softly, "Lacey, you remember when we bought your clothes and I said they'll probably get dirty?" Sniffling, the eight-year old nodded her head. "This is what I meant," Leara continued. "Though I promise that _someone _won't throw dirt anymore." Pigeon blushed and looked down at his feet.

Forcing a smile, Lacey seemed to be in brighter spirits.

"Ouch! Alright, that's it…" Bryce yelled.

In a split second, Leara was in between Kiera and Bryce as they were about to fight. Giving them both a dirty look, she said sternly, "And what example are you setting for the younger ones?"

Both of them sighed and relaxed from their stances. "Anyone have some bandages?" Kiera asked aloud as she looked at her hand.

Once again, her fingers were red and covered in blisters. A couple of them was blood blisters and had popped open, looking painful enough.

"Here," Fang pulled a long piece of fabric out of his pocket. "What?" he asked as Leara gave him a weird look. "We each have cloth strips just in case someone gets hurt. They make good bandages for on-the-go trips like this."

_A good idea, nonetheless. _"So when do you think we should leave?"

"Soon," Fang said as he looked to the sun. "We should've been half-way there by now."

"Shoot. Well, let's get going. Everyone all rested up?" Leara did a double check over her flock. Bryce was helping Kiera tie the bandages on her fingers. Kaylee and Nudge were still talking nonsense; but otherwise, everyone seemed ready.

"Alright, up and away, guys," Leara commanded. They were able to take off one at a time so no one hit a tree on the way up.

In the air, Leara and Fang took the lead, followed by Nudge, Kaylee and Toronto. Pigeon and Lacey flew right behind with Kiera and Bryce tailing them, in case someone started to fall.

"Down in the woods, I heard movement other than ours. I think someone's been following us, so let's lose 'em," Fang gave Leara a sideways glance as he began to bank to the north. "There was a river back this way. Maybe if we just keep going back and forth, we could lose them."

"Let's give it a shot. Toronto, keep your mind alert. Let us know if we have any company," Leara looked back at the four-year old, who nodded. She smiled at how tough he was acting and the serious look on his face. Though it was surprising how serious he was for a four-year old.

Kaylee and Nudge were still talking endlessly. "I saw the cutest shirt when we were shopping the other day. It was pink and had ruffled sleeves," Kaylee explained.

"Really?" Nudge mused. "That's cute! Oh you should've seen the pants I saw! They would've matched perfectly. Jeans with rhinestones all over and…"

"God, those two really are going to talk forever," Leara sighed. "Hopefully we'll have some other sort of entertainment…"

When Fang's cheeks turned a little pink, Leara instantly realized what he took it as and bit her tongue. _I didn't mean it like that… Oops…_But a little smirk grew on his lips as he looked forward. Her stomach did a flip and she could feel the rising heat in her cheeks. No doubt they were beet red.

"There is something down there; two somethings," Toronto announced.

Fang nodded and said sternly, "Alright then. Nudge and Kaylee, you'll have to put a pause on your competition for now. We have to be quiet for awhile."

Surprisingly, both of them instantly stopped talking. "That was easy," Leara mouthed to Fang, who chuckled under his breath.

For a couple hours, the enlarged flock flew over the river again and again, until they finally lost their trackers and left them in the dust. They were approaching a suburban area as the sun was getting dangerously close to the horizon.

"Bet the Erasers don't like the suburbs. Way too many people, but not enough to blend in, like New York. Maybe we could find a place to stay down there," Nudge pondered out loud.

"Good thinking, Nudge," Leara rewarded. "Now everyone, keep your eyes open for any place that…"

"How about that tree house?" Kiera pointed almost directly down. The little house seemed empty and unused for quite some time.

"That'll work," Fang agreed as he swooped down to check it out. Leara kept the flock in the air until Fang poked his head out of a window and gave a thumbs-up.

Inside, it was a little cramped with nine people, but it would have to do. "Alright, let's get some shut-eye so we're ready to go tomorrow," Leara looked at her flock while Nudge and Fang tapped fists like they did with their flock.

Within an instant, Toronto, Pigeon, Lacey, Kaylee and Nudge were out cold.

"For only four-years old, he keeps up well," Fang mused as he eyed Toronto. His black and blue wings were slightly wrapped around himself, almost making himself look like a baby blue jay.

Leara smiled. "He is just a little stronger than your normal four-year old. A lot more serious, too."

"And creepier," Bryce muttered. "I'm sorry, but that kid really freaks me out."

"Angel is the same way." Fang seemed to take Bryce's comment personally. "It's just the gift they have. They're only little kids; you can't blame them."

"True," Bryce had a guilty look on his face. "Well, I'm going to sleep." He shot Leara a glance that said, "And if you two are up all night…"

Kiera saw the glance and cuffed his shoulder playfully, her bright eyes giving away her good mood. "Oh, leave them alone. Just because you want to 'get-to-know' Max…"

"Shut up, Kiera!" Bryce flustered, but took his voice down so not to wake the kids.

"Pssh, good luck," Fang muttered as Leara chuckled. _Though Bryce and Max probably would make a good couple… They could annoy they crap out of each other._

"Tomorrow, we need to get into DC. That'll be our main goal; then we can try to find someplace or something to eat," Fang whispered.

"There's still some money on this card. Maybe just enough for a decent meal for all of us," Leara whispered back, patting her pocket.

"Good. I'll take first watch. Want me to wake you up next or Bryce?"

"Just wake me up," Leara nodded. Bryce and Kiera had already gone and lay down by the kids. "Bryce needs his beauty sleep."

"I heard that," he growled in retaliation. His voice was muffled because he was curled into a ball so he wasn't laying on anyone.

Soon, the light breathing of the extended flock was all the noise that was around them. In her chest, Leara's heart began to thump again. She suddenly felt Fang's hand on her chest, over her heart. "You really should tell your heart to not beat so loud. It's going to wake up the whole neighborhood."

Too embarrassed to reply, she looked down, watching Fang's hand moving with the beating motion in her chest.

Under her chin, she could feel Fang place his other hand and lift her face back up so she was looking at him. Knowing what was happening, she quickly shut her eyes as her cheeks grew bright red and her stomach was a swarm of butterflies.

Only this time, it wasn't just a peck. Since she's never kissed before, she didn't have anything to compare it to. It was more than she got earlier. The kiss was sweet and tender, but yet, she could feel something else with this kiss. Something warm inside her that made her want him even more than ever.

It lasted longer, too. On her sides, she could feel his hands, warm and almost protective. Trying to think of what to do herself, she wrapped her arms around his neck out of instinct. He instantly pulled her in closer and she was sure her chest was beating heavy against his.

After what felt like an hour later, he broke away and they were able to breathe again. "You should probably get some sleep. Long day tomorrow," he whispered, his gaze never breaking from hers.

Her mind felt muddled and confused, still stuck on what had just happened. Only nodding, she laid down next to where Toronto was curled up. She heard Fang as her eyelids became heavy and sleep was taking over. "G'night."


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Even though it felt like she had just fallen asleep, someone was gently shaking Leara awake. "C'mon sleepy, it's your turn," Fang's gentle voice whispered.

Hiding her giddy feelings, she sat up and stretched. "Alright, I'm up. Now _you _need to get some rest. I'll wake everyone up at sunrise."

Only nodding, Fang laid down by Nudge and he was out almost as soon as his head touched the floor.

Leara had noticed he barely said anything to her after he woke her up. Did she do something wrong? Was it something she had said or done?

_Boys have to be the most confusing creatures ever…_

A few hours of keeping alert and letting her mind wander went by horribly slow. The sun was starting to peek past the horizon and Leara was getting ready to wake everyone up.

Suddenly, a neighbor dog began to bark, causing Leara to jump. But as soon as it started, something shut it up. There were no voices yelling at the dog either.

Fang rolled over onto his other side, facing Leara. "We've got to go," he mouthed. Waking everyone up silently, they were up and out within no time.

On the outskirts of the suburbs, choppers were dotted along the sky. "They're waiting for us to leave," Bryce muttered. "Isn't there a subway in town? Maybe we could hide there."

Though when they finally found a station, trying to read the map was a different story. Fang was definitely getting annoyed with it until Nudge came up and read it with no problem. _For a motor mouth, she still comes in handy when we need her._

Along the subway rails, they found an old unused maintenance station. Thankfully it was also unlocked. "Score!" Pigeon shouted triumphantly, as everyone let themselves fall to the ground and take a break.

Fang and Nudge broke out some granola bars and other snacks while they rested. "S'not as good as the tree house," Bryce spoke with a mouthful of food, "but it'll do."

That night, Bryce and Nudge decided to take watch so Fang and Leara could catch back up on their sleep. The younger ones had crashed way before the older kids. But after talking and making some small plans, they too fell asleep one by one, until it was just the watchman left.

But a sickening sound woke Fang and Leara at the same time. Nudge had been on watch and was driving herself into an Eraser's chest with full force. There was the _crack_ of breaking bones as the Eraser hacked up a little pool of blood of collapsed, shaking violently.

Another Eraser came around the corer, but before he could pounce, Bryce tackled him to the side. By now, the other kids were awake and ready for a fight. This Eraser put up a good fight until Fang kicked him into the third rail. Now they knew why there were warning signs all over the walls as they watched the Eraser go up in flames and explode.

Kaylee and Lacey both covered their eyes and made faces. "Oh, that was gross!" Kaylee complained. The air was filled with the stench of burning fur and flesh.

Motioning to the quivering Eraser, Fang pick-pocketed him and found a wallet. There were fake licenses and over two-hundred bucks. Fang couldn't help but smirk.

Though they had been behind schedule, the extra cash helped pay for a couple bus rides into DC. It was four in the morning at a coffee shop as Leara watched Fang pull out a laptop while munching on his fifth donut.

"What's that?" she asked curiously, trying to sneak a peak at the screen.

"My blog. Max thinks it's stupid," Fang muttered, reading through messages scrolling down the screen.

"Mind if I take a look?" she asked politely. Surprisingly, he turned the screen towards her. Reading all his posts and the comments, though ignoring all the totally obsessed normal human girls, she nodded and turned the screen back to him. "I don't see why Max hates it. I think it's a good idea."

Fang smiled a little and whispered, "Thanks." He continued reading and replying to his hundreds of messages and comments as the flock finished their breakfast.

Along with the fake licenses, there were business cards in the Eraser's wallet. The first card was trash, but the second had a lead. The front of this building was an electronics store, but the back had a shiny plate that read "Institute for Higher Aeronautics". "That's not suspicious at all," Nudge rolled her eyes. "Also explains why there are so many Erasers around here."

During the day, this Institute was pretty quiet and vacant. At night, though, it's a different story. Erasers were streaming into the doors non-stop as the flock his in the shadows by the edge of the parking lot.

Since there was too many flock members for them all to infiltrate the building, they instead set off every car alarm in the parking lot. They watched the chaos from the safety of the shadows, and Fang decided to be the one to slip through the crowd of white coats and Erasers into the building.

After a couple minutes slowly ticked by, Nudge took some change to a nearby payphone and called various numbers.

Nudge and Fang both returned to the flock at the same time. "I called for back up," Nudge smiled. "The police, fire department, paramedics, and a few different pizza delivery places are all on their way."

Though it was a long flight, the flock had rested well throughout the day and made a silent journey back to the tree house in New Jersey. And of course, the youngest ones were passed out as soon as they touched the floor.

"That was kind of fun," Nudge whispered to the older kids. "I'll take first watch tonight."

"Though I want to know what all those Erasers and white coats were doing at the building," Leara pondered.

Next to her, Fang nodded. "Same here. Nothing good, probably." No one could see that he had his hand in between Leara's shoulders, massaging around her wings.

Or so they thought no one could see. "Alright you two," Bryce was looking directly at Fang and Leara. "You two need to go outside with me for a minute."

Thankfully, the tree they were camped in was also surrounded by other trees, giving them perfect coverage. "What did we do now, Bryce?" Leara crossed her arms in a questioning manner and from the cold wind.

"You two need to have a little bit of alone time, that's what. Fang and Nudge have to go back at some point. So, just do what ever you guys normally do when you're alone." Before Bryce flew back up, he turned back and said, "Just keep it clean and between you two. We don't want to know."

Turning deep red, Leara bit her tongue and turned to Fang with a sigh. "Bryce is right. You guys have to leave tomorrow, don't you?"

"Yeah, Max would kick my ass if we weren't back in time." Fang shoved his hands in his pockets and wouldn't look into Leara's gaze. But he did notice how quiet she was after he spoke. Leara was sick of hearing Max's name.

"C'mere," Fang whispered, pulling her into a tight hug. He had one hand on the back of her hand and the other around her waist. "I'm sorry…"

Muffled because she had her face buried in his shoulder, Leara said, "I just… am really going to miss you. Just hearing Max's name, though. God, she makes me so angry… Fang, do you really have to go back? Can't Nudge just go back by herself?"

Fang tilted her face so she gazed into his deep, dark eyes. "I have to go back, you know that. The flock is like my family. Keep on our tail when we travel and I'll be sure to get away for a little bit; somehow."

Leara couldn't hide the smile that crept on her lips. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want you to get in trouble."

"Nah, Max probably sent me to DC so she and Angel could talk about what to do with me," he was looking away into the woods as he spoke. Feeling a little better, Leara buried her face into his chest.

"Oh, and maybe you should put in a good word to Max for Bryce. He probably wouldn't mind Max beating on him to take out her anger about us," Leara smiled.

After a few minutes of silence, Fang was pretty sure Leara was getting tired. He pecked her forehead, picked her up and flew back into the tree house. Lying down next to her, he fell asleep with his hand on her waist, despite the little kids all around. Nudge looked over, but realized it was none of her business.

The same dog from a couple days ago began barking and woke Leara. This time, nothing shut it up and never before had she been so happy to hear a dog that wouldn't stop barking. Sighing with relief, she noticed a weight on her side; it was Fang's hand. She blushed as she realized Fang had fallen asleep like that. _Hope the kids didn't notice… But they probably already know something is going on._

Seeing that she was the second one up after Kiera, she began to wake up the rest of the flock. Almost every bird kid whined and pleaded something along the lines of, "Five more minutes…"

All the snacks that were left over served as a quick breakfast while Fang and Nudge began to pack. Nudge was conversing with Kaylee and Lacey while Fang and Leara spoke in hushed voices.

"You know we're headed to DC. Get a head start and beat us there. I can find you later," Fang muttered as he ate and shut his laptop.

"Remember the woods on the outskirts? I plan on hiding out there. The woods are so small though, it shouldn't be hard for you to find us."

Bryce and Kiera both came up, with sheepish looks on their faces. "Uhm, Fang, do you think you could, I dunno, talk to Max? You know, about me. It's like she sees right through me and I just want her to know I exist…"

"We've already talked about it," Fang smirked while Leara shook her head. "And Kiera…?"

"Uh, kinda same for me… Except to Iggy, not to Max! I mean, yeah…" Kiera sort of twiddled her thumbs as she looked away.

Fang kept nodding as he threw his pack onto his shoulders. "Alright Nudge, you ready?"

"Not just yet," she said. Surprisingly, she gave Leara a huge hug. "Thanks for coming. Fang is so quiet; it would've been like traveling by myself. If you want, I can keep this a secret from Max. But it won't be easy. She can be real intimidating, you know? That's why she's the leader, though, 'cause she's the best. Well, I don't mean the best leader; you're pretty good, too..."

Fang cut her off and lead her to the window. "C'mon, Nudge. We need to leave." He watched her take off and began to climb onto the window sill as Bryce decided to give him one last comment. "You're not gonna kiss her good-bye? That's sad," he teased as he put on fake puppy-dog eyes and stuck out his bottom lip.

Fang looked back at Leara, whose cheeks were pink, but she shook her head. "No, you need to get going. Don't listen to that blockhead."

"Besides, Bryce would only think to himself, 'Oh, how I wish that was Max and I!'" Kiera scoffed. Bryce's jaw dropped as his cheeks turned red. "Nuh uh! It's not true! How can you say that when I'm right here?"


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Out in the open sky, Leara felt weird. She was up in front all on her own. No strong, tan, well-built guy with a beautiful smile and…

"Now you're not so alone," Toronto interrupted her thoughts as he flew closer to her. Leara gave him a warm smile back, her mind still wrapped around Fang. Finally, she decided to focus back on the random route they decided to take.

But something new came along their path; a huge gray cloud.

"Clouds aren't normally lumpy, right?" Kaylee asked. "More fluffy; and white."

"That's because it's not a cloud," Leara frowned. "I think it's… a cloud of flying Erasers. Get ready for a fight."

"You guys are still on the move after your beating?" a familiar voice cackled. "Never knew you were on the 'Wanted' list, Leara."

Huge, gruesome wings were patched onto Ari's and the rest of the Eraser's backs. It startled Leara, but she kept her face stone cold. "What do you mean, Ari?"

He gave another evil, wolfish grin. "When the white coats heard I found you, they were ecstatic. Turns out they weren't finished with you and want you back just as bad as Max and her flock."

"They can have me when I'm dead," Leara spat. She noticed the look on the flock's faces. They were either shocked or just as angry as her own.

But in response, Ari smirked, "That can be arranged." With a snarl, he lunged towards them, followed by the other Erasers.

It turned out the flock had the upper hand in the sky; flying Erasers had a tough time staying in the air. They seemed to have to remember to flap their wings so they wouldn't make splatter art on the ground.

For awhile, the flock was doing great and had the upper-hand in the fight. Until four Erasers flew into Leara at once and pinned her limbs and wings against herself. A helicopter was soon heard, on its way. Struggling to break free, Ari snatched Leara's face, his claws scratching her cheeks.

"Sad to say, but I won't be joining you on your ride back home. But I'll go check up on your boyfriend for you. Give him a nice present." Turning to the Erasers who were getting ready to attack the stunned bird kids, he commanded, "Go ahead and kill these other mutant freaks. They're not from our lab and none of our concern."

"Flock! Straight up and at 'em!" Leara managed to yell, before an Eraser covered her mouth. But what she actually said was, "Scatter on three."

"On three!"

Like in the blink of an eye, the other six bird kid scattered and escaped into the woods below. Ari frowned, but said, "Forget them. One freak down, six to go." As soon as Leara was chucked into the helicopter that pulled up nearby, her hands, feet, and wings were bound with duct tape.

Lying against the cold floor, Leara realized how much she already missed her flock. They had only been together for a little while, but it was like she knew them for ever. It was amazing how fast they got along. To be taken away from them so soon and sent back to her nightmare was worse than imaginable.

"Heh, she's nothing like the other bird freaks. They normally try to wriggle and squirm, but she's pretty calm. Knock her out anyway," an Eraser laughed. Without a second thought, a cloth was shoved in her face, a strong scent filling her nose. But she passed out before she could even figure out what it was.

The dreams were a blur. Everything that happened in the past few days were playing on fast forward, times six-hundred. Occasionally, it slowed down; mostly when it was about Fang. Coming closer to the present, it was to be expected that it would stop after she was knocked out.

Instead, images went reeling through of a beach with sand stained with blood, hospital beds, blood bags, and the worst: someone's side was ripped apart, almost in shreds. As if they were mauled by an animal. The pale skin was so familiar, and the more she thought about it, she could almost see their face.

"This isn't good. Clearly while it escaped, it's been damaged. There were never spots on its wings. Don't they look a lot like leopard spots?" Voices woke Leara up, to find she was strapped down to a table with an IV attached. A couple white coats were in the corner of the dark room.

"Look, I've got the DNA results!" Another white coat came in, waving a handful of papers. The others each took a sheet of paper and began reading furiously.

"So when we tried to put lupine DNA into her," a female pondered aloud, "some of her DNA was erased. Somehow, snow leopard DNA took over the missing gap."

Someone stomped their foot. "This will not do!" He roared. "This will never work anymore! It's the entire damn lupines fault for letting it escape. It could go clinically insane now. We'd have to euthanize it after it's been so successful."

"Who said we couldn't try? It could prove to be better than you think," a voice spoke. "Besides, Max and the flock is our main priority. It doesn't matter if we lose this one." Finally, Jeb came into Leara's point of view, her eyes narrowing with hatred.

"So no one cares if I go mental by mixing my cat genes with a dog's?" Leara growled. _Great to finally figure out what they think of us experiments…_

Jeb frowned in return but wouldn't catch her gaze. "Compared to Max, you're an utter failure. If we have to euthanize you, it won't change anything else around here."

Knowing he struck a cord, he turned and walked out the door, followed by a couple other white coats. _So no one here believes that I'm good for anything. No one likes me…? No one… loves me?_ Slowly, her mind felt like it was literally falling into a depression. _This is what it feels like to be completely alone and unwanted. And like anyone will ever come to save me. Maybe this will be better for me anyway._

When the white coats came back, she didn't struggle against the needles or the Velcro, giving into her depression. Her eyes were hazy as she stared into space, not taking the needles protruding from her skin into notice; until it was a few minutes later in the transfusion.

Something inside her brain felt like it snapped, releasing new feelings, new scents, and a new vision. She felt weird, but good at the same time. Looking at the white coats, she realized how pale they actually were. Faintly, she could see their hearts beating against their chest, could hear their every breath. And then she remembered what she was doing here, what they were doing to her.

Growling, she flexed her arms and pulled herself away from the cold table, feeling the Velcro bonds snap and fall to the floor. A couple white coats tried to get her to calm down, not looking into her eyes; just like a weak little scrap of prey would do. Instinct told her to slice their throats, feel their warm blood trickle down onto her fingertips.

Whatever humanity was left had a good fight, until she gave in to the instincts. Leaping off the table, she knocked one white coat into another as she dove for another. He found out that her regular fingernails had hardened into cat-like claws as she let them tear his face.

Erasers and more white coats came rushing in after hearing the banging and crashing, but stood frozen when they caught Leara's eyes: her pupils were in slits, like a cat's.

"Experiment AREA7 has breached the lupines! Lock all the doors and windows! It's gone insane!" The ceilings were yelling these words at Leara as she heard sirens go off and doors beginning to close. Again, her instincts took over and told her to run. Get outside where it's open and she could fly free.

Leaving the bloody bodies behind, as if they were only play toys, she sprinted out the door and down the hall, pushing white coats and Erasers against the wall and out of her way. At the doors to the outside, there was a pack of four Erasers, ready to push her back.

"C'mon, man. You don't want to do this. You're almost like us; stay here with us. It's not so bad," one Eraser had a grimace on his face as he shook his head. "Out there… It's just too dangerous."

Without a word, Leara frowned and attacked, taking down the Erasers without a problem. The doors that were once locked were easily broken with her foot and she was soon in the air.

In the operation room, Erasers lay scattered around the room, knocked out and bloody from ragged scratches and black bruises. One white coat had managed to hide underneath a table and after taking in the scene, pulled out his radio. "Code Red," he whispered into the speaker. "Experiment AREA7 has breached the entire security system and is out in the open. It needs to be brought back dead or alive. And Jeb, you better be listening. Forget Max for a little bit; this experiment has a bigger blood lust than the lupines. She's our new top priority."


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"Bryce, where's Leara?" Pigeon asked for the hundredth time. Before Bryce lost his temper, Kiera put a hand on his shoulder and answered instead to the terrified eight-year-old. "We don't know, Pigeon. It's been the same every time you've asked."

"This is my fault. Damn it!" Bryce cursed, beginning to pace back and forth. The other kids watched him with wide eyes: huge, lost, confused, innocent eyes.

"We can't just give up," Kaylee crossed her arms. "There has to be something we can do."

"We're in DC. Maybe we could find Leara's boyfriend and that other chick," Pigeon suggested.

Bryce thought it was a good idea, but he noticed how dark the sky actually was. "First, we need to get some rest. Leara will have to wait."

The memories from where she was laying was both comforting and angering her. Leara could recall talking with Max and Fang in this exact cave. Sitting with her knees carefully tucked under her chin, she slowly rocked herself back and forth. Her eyes were wide and blood-shot, her hair tangled and her skin covered in dust.

"What's going on?" She asked aloud, as if her echoes would answer her. The way she spoke was like a small child, lost and confused. "I feel like… I could explode at any moment. Can't be around people, though; I'll just hurt them." Looking at the fresh scars on her arms, images reeled through her head of biting herself until she tasted the warm, red, coppery liquid. Just the feeling of it on her canines had let her relax and feel just that much normal again. Until her head began pounding again and she felt whatever sanity was left leaving.

"That's right. I only hurt people. Exactly why I'm going to live here with the hawks." Her gut wrenched suddenly, feeling as if her stomach was ripping in half. She howled in pain, sounding like a real animal. The hawks outside squawked in surprise from the terrible noise. Thoughts of ramming her head against the cave traveled through her mind, imagining herself knocked out on the cool rocks.

"No. Need to stay awake. If Erasers find me while I'm knocked out, they'll just take me back and make it even worse…" The pain never stopped searing through her as she spoke, making her just want to explode and get it over with.

A couple days of searching came up with nothing. The dark streets of DC were lit by small street lamps and lights from the parties in the drug houses.

Turning to a lamp, Bryce gripped the metal until his knuckles were white. _Damn it all. Never realized this place was so huge._

A hand grabbed his pant leg and he saw Toronto tugging on it. "Look up there. It's the one mean lady that she doesn't like." _Poor kid, he can't even say Leara's name without getting upset._

Straight up, he could just barely make out the small shape of a winged person. "Up and at 'em, guys," he commanded, taking off.

The look on Max's face went from surprised to angry to confused within a split second. "What are _you_ guys doing here? And where's _she_?"

Kiera spoke up for Bryce, who was stammering over his words and babbling out of embarrassment. "That's why we're here. Some of those wolf guys came and kidnapped Leara."

Max let a smirk show on the corner of her lips. "Serves her right… Ah, I mean, I wonder what they need her for."

"All they said was she was wanted just as bad as your flock. But we need to know where the School is so we can find her," Kiera said smoothly, without sounding like she was pleading for help.

"And why should I help?" Max crossed her arms. "This isn't my problem."

Toronto glared at Max, causing her to wince just a little. Kiera gave him a disapproving glance as she plotted in her head. "We'll tell Fang that you wouldn't help us. Then he'd leave you."

Max scoffed. "You think that will make him leave me? You're pathetic."

"You know it's true," Toronto piped up, still glaring despite Kiera's warning. "Now help us. You have to; you're just like us. We'd do the same if you were back at the School."

Looking over the kids' faces, Max sighed and shook her head. "Can't believe I'm giving into this…" Pulling a couple pieces of folded up paper out of her coat and handing them to Bryce, she said, "We don't need these anymore. One is a map of the School and the other is a map of the West states and where the School is. Keep a keen eye out there. And if you slip to them where we are, I'll wring all your necks with floss."

Ignoring her hostile comment, Kiera and Bryce said their thanks and begin to study the maps. They realized they were on the opposite side of the country from Leara.

"Well guys, we've got a long journey ahead of us. Keep those spirits up; we'll find her. Now let's go make camp and get some rest before we leave."

_**One Month Later…**_

"That was a waste of time…" Kiera growled as she saw the familiar lights of DC below them.

"Yeah, we almost lost our necks in that School place," Bryce groaned as he rubbed his neck, as if to make sure it was still there.

Toronto was the one who barely said anything in the last month. He had been like that back at the Institute, but he had instantly warmed up to Leara. _Who knew one person could change the six of us in less than a week? _Bryce wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

_**At the School**_

When the flock had found the School, while crawling through the air vents, they had come across a room of scientists conversing and began snooping.

"The lupines still haven't tracked her down? What's the problem, Ari?"

"She must have found a good hole to hide in, but I doubt she's gone very far," he sneered. "First, Leara wasn't in the greatest shape when she escaped; there's no way she could make it out of the state yet. Second, she seemed pretty insane when she left, too. How she remembered to do anything other than kill is beyond me."

"What?" Bryce mouthed to Kiera, who replied with a slight shrug of her shoulders. The whole flock exchanged confused glances, except for Toronto, who was still peering through the vent.

"Hold on a sec, doc…" Ari grumbled and took a huge whiff. "Something's not right here…" Punching straight through the ceiling and the ducts, he roared when he saw the pale faces of the flock above him. "I thought I smelled something! The other bird freaks are here!"

Quickly, Bryce shoved the kids back towards the exit as Ari tried to climb into the ducts after them. But he was too heavy and fell back to the floor.

Luckily, they were able to get back out of the building before an Eraser came to cover the ducts. They got a good head start before a batch of flying Erasers took after them.

Barely taking their surroundings into notice as they escaped, Bryce caught a quick glimpse of a valley with a bunch of caves below them. He thought of hiding in them until he noticed all the hawks lined along the walls with razor-sharp beaks and piercing eyes.

Around the Arizona-New Mexico border, the flock realized the Erasers had given up the chase. "Well, maybe Ari was wrong," Bryce panted as they slowed down. "Maybe Leara is back in DC looking for us. Let's go back."

_**D.C.**_

But there wasn't a trace of her anywhere. In fact, there wasn't even a trace of Max and her flock.

Growling, Bryce stomped down the sidewalk with the flock following behind wearily.

"Bryce," Lacey sniffled, "what are we going to do? We can't find Leara."

"That's because she's dead."

Turning sharply on his heels, Bryce barked, "Who said that?"

"I did," Toronto mumbled, looking down at his filthy sneakers. "If we can't find her, it means she's dead, doesn't it?"

"I don't know who ever told you something like that, but Leara isn't dead," Kiera gave the four-year old the stink-eye as she growled.

"Yeah, she's one of the toughest people I know," Pigeon puffed out his chest, trying to look brave and not burst into tears.

Kaylee shook her head. "There's no way she could die. From what that white coat and Ari said, she may be hurt, but she'd never give up. The only way she could've died is if the Erasers killed her; they don't even know where she is."

"Well, well," A cocky voice called, "if it isn't my second favorite bird-kid flock!"

Strolling along the sidewalk came Max and Fang. Raising an eyebrow, Kiera noted, "Aren't we the only other flock you know?"

Ignoring her, Max rose up on her tip-toes and looked around. "So? Where is she?"

"We don't know," Bryce muttered. "Nobody does. Some white coat said she escaped and is hiding somewhere."

Bryce noticed that the color from Fang's face left as he spoke. "Wait. Leara's missing?" he questioned.

Max frowned as Kiera caught on, her eyes turning a blazing red-orange. "You never told him? No wonder Leara hates you…"

"How long?" was Fang's only response.

"Who cares? I mean…" Max started, but Bryce interrupted, "About a month. She's most likely over in Arizona or Nevada, somewhere she could rest and hide that's still close to the School."

"Ari said something about her being… what, insane? Having a blood lust? I don't remember." Kaylee shook her head. "What ever it is, it's not good."

Rolling her eyes, Max complained, "Which means she's probably dead by now. Just forget her and move on."

"No." Fang shook his head. "There's no way she's dead."

Surprised, Max turned to him. "Even if she escaped, what ever the scientists did probably slowly killed her. That or lack of food and water."

"I'm going to find her," Fang said sternly.

All six of the other bird kids had wide eyes. From what they had heard, Fang was Max's right-hand man. He always did what she did or wanted him to do. And Max wanted nothing to do with Leara.

"You can't leave!" Max declared. "What about the flock?"

Shrugging her off, Fang replied, "Won't be gone long. I'm pretty sure I know where she is." Rolling his shoulders, he got ready to take off.

"No!" Max cried, blocking his path.

Frowning, he only pushed her to the side "Lay off. I said I'll be back."

"It's either her or me," Max warned. "Your choice."

This left the other flock speechless, watching them as if it was a soap opera.

"Alright, Max," Fang looked her straight in the face, his dark eyes serious. "I choose her." With that, he gave his wings a powerful lurch and took off into the night sky.

Max's jaw dropped, tears starting to sting her eyes.

Before she exploded, the flock was up and desperately trying to keep up with Fang. But the skilled flier was going at a pace that the younger ones couldn't match.


End file.
